Parameter identification of two dimensional digital filters using electro-magnetism optimization

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The design of Two-Dimensional Infinite Input Response Filters (2D IIR) is an important task in the field of signal processing. These filters are widely used in...     

Automatic multiple circle detection based on artificial immune systems

Hough transform (HT) has been the most common method for circle detection, exhibiting robustness but adversely demanding a considerable computational load and large storage. Alternative approaches for multiple circle detection include heuristic methods built over iterative optimization procedures which confine the search to only one circle per optimization cycle yielding longer execution times. On the other hand, artificial immune systems (AIS) mimic the behavior of the natural immune system for solving complex optimization problems. The clonal selection algorithm (CSA) is arguably the most widely employed AIS approach. It is an effective search method which optimizes its response according to the relationship between patterns to be identified, i.e. antigens (Ags) and their feasible solutions also known as antibodies (Abs). Although CSA converges to one global optimum, its incorporated CSA-Memory holds valuable information regarding other local minima which have emerged during the optimization process. Accordingly, the detection is considered as a multi-modal optimization problem which supports the detection of multiple circular shapes through only one optimization procedure. The algorithm uses a combination of three non-collinear edge points as parameters to determine circles candidates. A matching function determines if such circle candidates are actually present in the image. Guided by the values of such function, the set of encoded candidate circles are evolved through the CSA so the best candidate (global optimum) can fit into an actual circle within the edge map of the image. Once the optimization process has finished, the CSA-Memory is revisited in order to find other local optima representing potential circle candidates. The overall approach is a fast multiple-circle detector despite considering complicated conditions in the image.     

A comparison of nature inspired algorithms for multi-threshold image segmentation

In the field of image analysis, segmentation is one of the most important preprocessing steps. One way to achieve segmentation is by mean of threshold selection, where each pixel that belongs to a determined class is labeled according to the selected threshold, giving as a result pixel groups that share visual characteristics in the image. Several methods have been proposed in order to solve threshold selection problems; in this work, it is used the method based on the mixture of Gaussian functions to approximate the 1D histogram of a gray level image and whose parameters are calculated using three nature inspired algorithms (Particle Swarm Optimization, Artificial Bee Colony Optimization and Differential Evolution). Each Gaussian function approximates the histogram, representing a pixel class and therefore a threshold point. Experimental results are shown, comparing in quantitative and qualitative fashion as well as the main advantages and drawbacks of each algorithm, applied to multi-threshold problem.