A statistical active contour model for SAR image segmentation

A statistical active contour model is developed for segmenting synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images into regions of homogeneous speckle statistics. The technique measures both the local tone and texture along the contour so that no smoothing across segment boundaries occurs. A smooth contour is favoured by the inclusion of a curvature constraint, whose weight is determined analytically by considering the model energy balance. The algorithm spawns smaller snakes to represent multiply connected regions. The algorithm is capable of segmenting noisy SAR imagery whilst accurately depicting (to within 1 pixel) segment boundaries. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.