Learning the dynamics of deformable objects and recursive boundary estimation using curve evolution techniques

The primary objective of this thesis is to develop robust algorithms for the incorporation of statistical information in the problem of estimating object boundaries in image data. We propose two primary algorithms, one which jointly estimates the underlying field and boundary in a static image and another which performs image segmentation across a temporal sequence. Some motivating applications come from the earth sciences and medical imaging. In particular, we examine the problems of oceanic front and sea surface temperature estimation in oceanography, soil boundary and moisture estimation in hydrology, and left ventricle boundary estimation across a cardiac cycle in medical imaging. To accomplish joint estimation in a static image, we introduce a variational technique that incorporates the spatial statistics of the underlying field to segment the boundary and estimate the field on either side of the boundary. For image segmentation across a sequence of frames, we propose a method for learning the dynamics of a deformable boundary that uses these learned dynamics to recursively estimate the boundary in each frame over time. In the recursive estimation algorithm, we extend the traditional particle filtering approach by applying sample-based methods to a complex shape space.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Sun, Walter

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alan S. Willsky.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34978

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34978