Automatic histogram threshold using fuzzy measures

In this paper, an automatic histogram threshold approach based on a fuzziness measure is presented. This work is an improvement of an existing method. Using fuzzy logic concepts, the problems involved in finding the minimum of a criterion function are avoided. Similarity between gray levels is the key to find an optimal threshold. Two initial regions of gray levels, located at the boundaries of the histogram, are defined. Then, using an index of fuzziness, a similarity process is started to find the threshold point. A significant contrast between objects and background is assumed. Previous histogram equalization is used in small contrast images. No prior knowledge of the image is required.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improvements on coronal hole detection in SDO/AIA images using supervised classification

We demonstrate the use of machine learning algorithms in combination with segmentation techniques in order to distinguish coronal holes and filaments in SDO/AIA EUV images of the Sun. Based on two coronal hole detection techniques (intensity-based thresholding, SPoCA), we prepared data sets of manually labeled coronal hole and filament channel regions present on the Sun during the time range 2011 - 2013. By mapping the extracted regions from EUV observations onto HMI line-of-sight magnetograms we also include their magnetic characteristics. We computed shape measures from the segmented binary maps as well as first order and second order texture statistics from the segmented regions in the EUV images and magnetograms. These attributes were used for data mining investigations to identify the most performant rule to differentiate between coronal holes and filament channels. We applied several classifiers, namely Support Vector Machine, Linear Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, and Random Forest and found that all classification rules achieve good results in general, with linear SVM providing the best performances (with a true skill statistic of ~0.90). Additional information from magnetic field data systematically improves the performance across all four classifiers for the SPoCA detection. Since the calculation is inexpensive in computing time, this approach is well suited for applications on real-time data. This study demonstrates how a machine learning approach may help improve upon an unsupervised feature extraction method.Comment: in press for SWS

Fuzzy Hybrid Method for the Reconstruction of 3D Models Based on CT/MRI Data

This research proposes a hybrid method for improving the segmentation accuracy of reconstructed 3D models from computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) data. A semi-automatic hybrid method based on combination of Fuzzy C-Means clustering (FCM) and region growing (RG) is proposed. In this approach, FCM is used in the first stage as a preprocessing step in order to classify and improve images by assigning pixels to the clusters for which they have the maximum membership, and manual selection of the membership intensity map with the best contrast separation. Afterwards, automatic seed selection is performed for RG, for which a new parameter standard deviation (STD) of pixel intensities, is included. It is based on the selection of an initial seed inside a region with maximum value of STD. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, it was compared to several other segmentation methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method overall provides better results compared to other methods in terms of accuracy. The average sensitivity and accuracy rates for cone-beam computed tomography CBCT 1 and CBCT 2 datasets are 99 %, 98.4 %, 47.2 % and 89.9 %, respectively. For MRI 1 and MRI 2 datasets, the average sensitivity and accuracy values are 99.1 %, 100 %, 75.6 % and 99.6 %, respectively. The average values for the Dice coefficient and Jaccard index for the CBCT 1 and CBCT 2 datasets are 95.88, 0.88, 0.6, and 0.51, respectively, while for MRI 1 and MRI 2 datasets, average values are 0.96, 0.93, 0.81 and 0.7, respectively, which confirms the high accuracy of the proposed method

A study of hough transform for weld extraction

The process of joining metals is called welding. At times, selecting a poor quality material or improper usage of welding technologies may cause defects in welded joints. Some of these welded joints have to be tested nondestructively, because their failure can cause lot of damage, for instance in power plants. Radiography is a very common method for non-destructive testing of welds. It is done by certified weld inspectors who have knowledge about weld flaws, looking at the radiograph of the welded joint with naked eye. The judgment of the weld inspector can be biased; subjective, because it is dependent on his/her experience. This manual method can also become very time consuming. Many researches were exploring computer aided examination of radiographic images in early 1990’s. With much advancement in computer vision and image processing technologies, they are being used to find more effective ways of automatic weld inspection. These days, fuzzy based methods are being widely used in this area too. The first step in automatic weld inspection is to locate the welds or find a Region of Interest (ROI) in the radiographic image [7]. In this thesis, a Standard Hough Transform (SHT) based methodology is developed for weld extraction. Firstly, we have done binarization of image to remove the background and non-welds. For binarization, optimal binary threshold is found by a metaheuristic –Simulated annealing. Secondly, we use SHT to generate the Hough Transform matrix of all non-zero points in the binary image. Thirdly, we have explored two different paths to find a meaningful set of lines in the binarized image that are welds. Finally, these lines are verified as weld using a weld-peak detection procedure. Weld-peak detection is also helpful to remove any non-welds that were remaining. We have used 25 digitized radiographic images containing 100 welds to test the method in terms of true detection and false alarm rate

Algorithm development for the non-destructive testing of structural damage

Monitoring of structures to identify types of damages that occur under loading is essential in practical applications of civil infrastructure. In this paper, we detect and visualize damage based on several non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. A machine learning (ML) approach based on the Support Vector Machine (SVM) method is developed to prevent misdirection of the event interpretation of what is happening in the material. The objective is to identify cracks in the early stages, to reduce the risk of failure in structures. Theoretical and experimental analyses are derived by computing the performance indicators on the smart aggregate (SA)-based sensor data for concrete and reinforced-concrete (RC) beams. Validity assessment of the proposed indices was addressed through a comparative analysis with traditional SVM. The developed ML algorithms are shown to recognize cracks with a higher accuracy than the traditional SVM. Additionally, we propose different algorithms for microwave- or millimeter-wave imaging of steel plates, composite materials, and metal plates, to identify and visualize cracks. The proposed algorithm for steel plates is based on the gradient magnitude in four directions of an image, and is followed by the edge detection technique. Three algorithms were proposed for each of composite materials and metal plates, and are based on 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) and hybrid fuzzy c-mean techniques, respectively. The proposed algorithms were able to recognize and visualize the cracking incurred in the structure more efficiently than the traditional techniques. The reported results are expected to be beneficial for NDT-based applications, particularly in civil engineering