Title :
Quantitative comparison of the performance of SAR segmentation algorithms
Author :
Caves, Ronald ; Quegan, Shaun ; White, Richard
Author_Institution :
Centre for Earth Obs. Sci., Sheffield Univ., UK
fDate :
11/1/1998 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Methods to evaluate the performance of segmentation algorithms for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are developed, based on known properties of coherent speckle and a scene model in which areas of constant backscatter coefficient are separated by abrupt edges. Local and global measures of segmentation homogeneity are derived and applied to the outputs of two segmentation algorithms developed for SAR data, one based on iterative edge detection and segment growing, the other based on global maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation using simulated annealing. The quantitative statistically based measures appear consistent with visual impressions of the relative quality of the segmentations produced by the two algorithms. On simulated data meeting algorithm assumptions, both algorithms performed well but MAP methods appeared visually and measurably better. On real data, MAP estimation was markedly the better method and retained performance comparable to that on simulated data, while the performance of the other algorithm deteriorated sharply. Improvements in the performance measures will require a more realistic scene model and techniques to recognize oversegmentation
Keywords :
edge detection; image segmentation; iterative methods; maximum likelihood estimation; radar imaging; simulated annealing; synthetic aperture radar; MAP estimation; SAR segmentation algorithms; coherent speckle; data meeting algorithm; global maximum a posteriori estimation; global measures; iterative edge detection; local measures; oversegmentation; performance; scene model; segment growing; segmentation algorithms; segmentation homogeneity; simulated annealing; synthetic aperture radar; Adaptive filters; Backscatter; Filtering; Image edge detection; Image segmentation; Iterative algorithms; Layout; Radar scattering; Speckle; Synthetic aperture radar;
Journal_Title :
Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on