This paper describes the application of the expectation-maximization/maximization of the posterior marginals (EM/MPM) algorithm to serial section images, which inherently represent three dimensional (3D) data. The images of interest are electron micrographs of cross sections of a titanium alloy. To improve the accuracy of the resulting segmentation images, the images are pre-filtered before being used as input to the EM/MPM algorithm. The output of the pre-filter at a particular pixel represents an estimate of the entropy at that pixel, based on the grayscale values of neighboring pixels. This filter tends to be biased towards higher entropy values if an edge is present within the window being used. This causes edges in the final segmentation to move out from higher entropy regions and into lower entropy regions. In order to preserve the locations of these edges, a multiscale technique involving the use of an adaptive filter window has been developed. We present experimental results demonstrating the application of this technique.

Date Published: 28 February 2007
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6498, Computational Imaging V, 64980E (28 February 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.715185

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6498:
Computational Imaging V
Charles A. Bouman; Eric L. Miller; Ilya Pollak, Editor(s)