Inertia: A new force field for geometric active contour

A new force field for geometric active contour, called inertia, is proposed in this paper. Based on analyzing the evolution process of geometric active contour and constructing extension velocities in level set method, it is found that geometric active contour can inherit its evolution velocities at the previous time step and has a tendency to keep its original movement state through integrating inertia force field into it. As an useful complementarity to the force field family for geometric active contour, inertia force can be integrated with other force fields to compose the coupling force field. Experimental results with several test images reveal that, compared with geodesic active contour integrated with gradient vector flow, geodesic active contour integrated with inertia and gradient vector flow, can enter into long, thin indention of the objects´ edge.