Active contours for segmentation of multilayered biological structures

Abstract

In this semester project, an ImageJ plugin was developed based on open ended parametric snakes formulated using B-splines. An initial contour was specified by the user with the desired number of nodes. Interpolation using B-splines was used with which the contour was generated given the nodes. The curve was optimized to fit into the desired contour in the image using optimization for which the cost function was defined in terms of the energy of the snake. Energies based on the gradient and laplacian of the image were used. In addition, a constraint energy was also introduced based on the y coordinates of the initial and the final nodes of the curve.

Fig1: When plugin is invoked, user can enter the number of nodes and the "Lambda" for the constraint energy