Sonar Image Segmentation Using the Level Set Method without Re-Initialization

Abstract

To solve the problem that many image segmentation methods cannot be applied to forward looking sonar image accurately, an improved level set segmentation method was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the level set evolution without re-initialization was introduced. Secondly the different characteristics of forward looking sonar image from the optical image were analyzed, and we got the factors affecting segmentation. Then, to overcome these negative effects, this paper did preprocessing by morphological top-hat and bottom-hat transformation, and carried on level set method without re-initialization to construct an improved level set sonar image segmentation system. Finally, our method was compared with the traditional level set method in computer experiments. Simulation results show that it is more adapted to forward looking sonar image segmentation.