Wavelet-watershed automatic infrared image segmentation method

A novel approach for infrared image segmentation with applications to ship surveillance and classification is presented. It employs a watershed transformation using a marker that combines wavelet transform modulus maxima with morphological techniques. This approach is totally automatic and has many advantages compared with the traditional methods, such as its ability to extract objects beyond or below the environment temperature, robustness to noise inherent to infrared images, as well as a solution of the horizon problem.