Image Segmentation using Active Contour
with Level Set
Mandeep Kaur
Electronics & Electrical Engineering Department
Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. 144402
kaurmandeep1190@gmail.com
Abstract – In this paper a novel algorithm for image
segmentation has been proposed based on active
contour model and level set. In this we use the signed
pressure force function using local information of the
image to be segmented. First the level set function is
selectively penalised to be binary n then a Gaussian
kernel is applied for smoothing. Thus, this model can
work with heterogeneous images. In addition, by
taking the advantages of Geodesic active contour
(GAC) and Chan-Vese (C-V) model, the method could
deal with objects even with discrete blur boundaries
and gives exact results in detecting object boundaries.
One of its other advantages over C-V method is that
the cost of re initialisation is also reduced in this
method as we do not need re-initialisation of the level
set function. Experimental results demonstrate that
the proposed model is effective in segmenting
biomedical images and the images with blur and weak
edges.
Keywords: Image Segmentation, Active Contours,
Snakes, Level Sets, GAC, C-V method.
I.INTRODUCTION
The basic purpose of segmentation is to identify
and isolate the region of interest from the given
image. Image segmentation is used to locate
boundaries and objects in image [1] [3][13]. In
other words we can say that it is the process of
assigning a label to every pixel in an image such
that pixels with the same label share certain visual
characteristics. The problem of image segmentation
can be formulated as follows.
Given image I = {pi}, a complete segmentation
problem is to determine connected subset Ri = (Ri
∈ I), such that
i ≠ j(1)
¿ i Ri =I , Ri ∩ R j=φ ¿
Segmentation is based on homogeneity of the
image characteristics such as intensity, colour,
texture, or the combination of all these information
[14].
There are number of different approaches in image
segmentation such as: histogram-based method,
model-based methods, edge-based technique,
region-based methods, watershed technique and
active contour methods.
II.ACTIVE CONTOUR MODEL
We have used the active contour model in oyr paper
for the segmentation process. In this technique the
user suggest an initial contour. This framework
attempts to minimize an energy associated to the
current contour as a sum of an internal and external
energy:
∫ ¿+ E ext (2)
E Snake= E¿
The external energy is supposed to be minimal
when the snake is at the object boundary position.
The internal energy is supposed to be minimal
when the snake has a shape which is supposed to be
relevant considering the shape of the sought object
[1][2].
Different ACM approaches
 Snakes
 Geometric active contours
 Geodesic active contours
A Snakes
Snakes model was introduced by Michael Kass,
Andrew Witkin and Demetri Terzopoulos in 1988
[1], for interactive interpretation of images, in
which user-imposed constraint forces guide the
snake near features of the interesting image. They
stated that a snake is an energy-minimizing spline
guided by external constraint forces and influenced
by image forces that pull it toward features such as
lines and edges. Snakes are greatly used in
applications like object tracking, shape recognition,
segmentation, edge detection, stereo matching. A
simple elastic snake is thus defined by
 a set of n points
 an internal elastic energy term
 an external edge based energy term
The snakes model try to segment the image based
on the following energy:
∫ ¿+ E ext (3)
ESnake =E¿
2 2
where, ∫ α |c '| + β|c ' '| ds
(4)
Snakes are autonomous and self-adapting in their
search for a minimal energy state. They can be
easily manipulated using external image forces.
They can be made sensitive to image scale by
incorporating Gaussian smoothing in the image
energy function. They can be used to track dynamic
objects in temporal as well as the spatial
dimensions. But some of the drawbacks are that
they can often get stuck in local minima states; this
may be overcome by using simulated annealing
techniques at the expense of longer computation
times. They often overlook minute features in the
process of minimizing the energy over the entire
path of their contours.
B. Geometric active contours
Geometric active contours attempt to segment an
object based on its edges, in a level-set framework
[4]. The initial contour is chosen to include the
object. The contour evolves according to
Ct =g ( l )k N (5)
Where g ( … … .. ) is a function which
should drop to zero at edges. The contour evolution
tends to smooth the contour, if no other information
is available. The contour according to this
evolution will shrink to a point. Hence, a balloon
force may be added
g(l)
(¿ ¿ k −β ) N (6)
C t =¿
C. Geodesic active contours
The choice of a balloon force is arbitrary. It is not
clear if we actually minimize some functional, and
the global minimizer is not clear either [5]. The
geodesic active contour tries to remedy this by
minimizing the following weighted length
functional:
∫ g(l )ds(7)
g(l) constitutes an (inverse) edge indicator. For
example,
1
g ( l )= (8)
√|∇ l| +∈
2
The functional state that curves segmenting the
object should try and surround it with a minimal
weighted arc length. This can be given a physical
interpretation: We are looking for the trajectory of a
particle on a map, where the potential energy at
each point is g(I ), and we assume the particle's
trajectory should form a closed simple curve. The
potential energy of the particle is given by
u (c) = - λ g (l)2 (9)
Snakes is the classical model in active contour
method [1], [3]. It gives an efficient framework for
image segmentation, but it cannot change the
topology in the process of segmentation process.
To overcome this drawback, the level set method
was proposed in order to isolate shapes from their
background. Since then, the active contour with
level set methods has been widely applied to image
segmentation in the fields of computer vision and
image processing. GAC is an edge based active
contour model that works well when the objects
and background in segmented image are
heterogeneous, but we cannot get satisfied results
when dealing with object with discrete/ blur
boundaries or noise. Whereas Chen-Vese (C-V)
model is a region-based active contour models,
which instead of using the image gradient, use the
statistical information inside and outside the initial
curve to evolve the contour towards the boundary
of desired object. It give better performance while
compared with the edge-based model such as the
ability to work well with the object having
blur/weak boundary, and less sensitive to the initial
position of the contour. In order to get the
advantages of both GAC and C-V model, some
hybrid model are proposed. Recently, Zhang [12]
proposed the sign pressure force in an active
contour model. This model takes the advantages of
GAC and C-V models and could optionally select
local or global segmentation.
III. REFERENCE MODELS
A.GAC Model
Geodesic Active Contour model is an enhanced
version of the classical snakes in [1]. This model
depends on the image gradient to stop the evolution
of the curve. Thus it surpasses the regions
having blur or weak boundaries. Let Ω be a
bounded open subset of R2 and I: [0,a] x [0,b]
 ❑
→ R+ be a given image. Let C(q):[0,1] →
2
R be a parameterized planar curve in Ω. The GAC ∫ I ( x ) . ( 1−H ( φ ) ) dx
Ω
model is formulated by minimising the energy term c 2 ( φ )= ❑ ,(14)
given below:
∫ ( 1−H ( φ ) ) dx
Ω
¿
EGAC (C )=∫ g (|∇ I ( C ( q ) )|)|C ' ( q )|dq ¿ 10) The corresponding variational level set formulation
for this is:
where g is the ESF. The corresponding level set
formulation for GAC is given as: ∂φ
=∂ ( φ ) [ μ ∇ к−v−λ 1 ( I −c1 )2 + λ 2 ( I −c2 )2 ] ,(15)
∂t
∂φ
=g ( к+ α )|∇ φ|+ ∇ g . ∇ φ(11)
∂t where μ ≥0, v ≥ 0, λ1 >0, λ2 >0 are fixed
parameters, μ controls the smoothness of zero
where α is a real constant called balloon force level set, v increases the propagation velocity
to control the expanding and velocity, к is the and λ1 and λ2 controls the image data drive force
euclidean curvature of curve C, and g is the edge
inside and outside the contour respectively. ∇ is
based function.
the gradient operator. H( φ ) is the heaviside
B. C-V Model function and ∂( φ) is the dirac function. The
regularised version is selected as follows:
Chan and Vese proposed an active contour without
edges that can be seen as a special case of

{ ( ( )) (16)
Munford-Shah problem. This model utilizes the 1 2 z
H ε ( z )= 1+ arctan
homogeneity information of the object as a term in 2 π ε
the energy function unlike the GAC model which
relies on the image gradient. In this method the
image is considered to be including two regions i.e
c1 and c2 inside and outside the curve C
δε (z )= ( 1π . ε +ε z ), z ∈ R
2 2

respectively. For a given model Ω, the C-V model IV. HYBRID MODEL
is formulated by minimizing the following energy
functional: In our hybrid model first of all we calculate the
❑ ❑ SPF (Signed Pressure Force) function. Its value
2 2 always lies in the range [-1,1]. It is used to control
ECV =λ 1 ∫ |I ( x ) −c 1| d + λ 2 ∫ |I ( x ) −c 2| dx the motion of the contour by modulating the sign of
¿(C) out (C)
the pressure force, so that the contour shrinks when
(12) outside and expands when it is inside the region of
interest.
where c1 and c2 are the average intensities inside
and outside the contour, respectively. With the level c 1 +c 2
set method we assume I ( x )−
2
spf ( I ( x )) = , x∈Ω
C={ x ∈ Ω :φ ( x )=0 } ,
|
max ⁡( I ( x )−
c 1+ c 2
2
)|
inside ( C )={ x ∈Ω :φ ( x )> 0 } ,
(17)
outside ( C )= { x ∈Ω :φ ( x ) <0 } , where c1 and c2 are defined in Eq.(13) and (14),
respectively.
By minimizing Eq.(6), we get the values for c 1 and
c2 as: The significance of Eq. (17) can be explained as
❑ follows. Refer to Figure 1, we assume that the
intensities inside and outside the object are
∫ I ( x ) . H ( φ ) dx homogeneous. It is intuitive that
c 1 ( φ )= Ω ❑ ,( 13) Min ( I ( x ) ) ≤ c 1 , c 2 ≤ Max(I ( x)) and the
∫ H ( φ ) dx equal signs cannot be obtained simultaneously
Ω wherever the contour is. Hence, there is
 c 1 +c 2 The main procedures of the proposed algorithm are
Min ( I ( x ) ) < < Max ( I ( x ) ) , x ∈ Ω summarized as follows:
2
1.Initialize the level set function / as
(18)

{
−ρ x ∈ Ω0−∂Ω 0
φ ( x ,t =0 )= 0 x ∈∂ Ω0 (21)
ρ x ∈Ω−Ω0

where ρ > 0 is a constant, Ω0 is a subset

in the image domain Ω and ∂ Ω0 is the
boundary ofΩ0 .
2. Compute c 1 ( φ )∧c 2 ( φ) using Eqs. (13) and
Fig 1 (14), respectively.
3. Evolve the level set function according to Eq.
Substituting the SPF function in Eq. (17) for the (20).
ESF in Eq. (11), the level set formulation of the 4. Let φ = 1 if φ > 0; otherwise, φ =
proposed model is as follows: -1.
This step has the local segmentation property. If we
∂φ
∂t
=spf ( I ( x )) ¿
∇φ
(( ) )
|∇ φ|
+ α |∇ φ|
want to selectively segment the desired objects, this
step is necessary; otherwise, it is unnecessary.
5. Regularize the level set function with a Gaussian
filter, i.e φ=φ∗G σ .
+∇ spf ( I ( x ) ) . ∇ φ , x ∈ Ω(19) 6. Check whether the evolution of the level set
function has converged. If not, return to step 2.
In the traditional level set methods, the level set
function is initialized to be an SDF to its interface V. EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS
in order to prevent it from being too steep or flat We have done experiments with both , the natural
near its interface, and re-initialization is required in as well as biomedical images. Fig 1 shows the
the evolution. Unfortunately, many existing re- results on natural image with both the reference
initialization methods have an undesirable side model and the hybrid model.
effect of moving the zero level set away from its
interface. Furthermore, it is difficult to decide when
and how to apply the re-initialization. In addition,
re-initialization is a very expensive operation. To
solve these problems, we propose a novel level set
method, which utilizes a Gaussian filter to
regularize the selective binary level set function
after each iteration. The procedure of penalizing
level set function to be binary is optional according
to the desired property of evolution. If we want
local segmentation property, the procedure is
necessary; otherwise, it is unnecessary.
(a)
Since we utilize a Gaussian filter to smooth the
level set function to keep the interface regular, the
regular term ¿( ∇ φ /|∇ φ|)∨∇ φ∨¿ is
unnecessary. In addition, the term ∇ spf . ∇ φ
in Eq. (19) can also be removed, because our model
utilizes the statistical information of regions, which
has a larger capture range and capacity of anti-edge
leakage. Finally, the level set formulation of the (b) (c)
proposed model can be written as follows:

∂φ
=spf ( I ( x )) . α |∇ φ| , x ∈Ω(20)
∂t

(d) (e)
Fig 2.Segmentation results on a natural image, (a)
original image (b) & (c) results by the reference
model after 200 and 500 iterations respectively, (d)
& (e) results from the hybrid model after 100 and
200 iterations.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 3.(a) original biomedical image (b) &
(c)segmentation results by the reference model and
the hybrid model after 400 iterations.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper a hybrid region based model is
proposed with selective local and global image
segmentation. By taking the advantage of the GAC
and C-V model, this method can effectively detect
and segment the regions with weak or blur edges.
The model is able to change the topology as the
evolution flow of model is derived using level set
method. Experiments are performed on both the
natural as well as biomedical images.
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