A method for segmenting remote sensing images using the Watershed algorithm and Fuzzy C-Means clustering

Subject Areas : Electronics Engineering

Ebrahim Alibabaee ¹ , Rouhollah Aghajani ²

1 - Department of Electrical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
2 - Department of Electrical Engineering Islamic Azad University Najafabad Branch, Isfahan, IRAN

Received: 2020-09-20 Accepted : 2020-09-20 Published : 2020-07-22

Keywords:

Abstract :

In the division of remote sensing image pixels using Watershed segmentation, the image boundaries are not well defined. In this paper, an image clustering algorithm based on Watershed segmentation and Fuzzy C-Means clustering is presented. The method is that first the Watershed algorithm is used to segment the image obtained from the sum of the image derivative with the original image. Image derivation makes the borders of the image well-defined and does not overlap between borders. After segmentation, Fuzzy C-Means clustering is used to combine similar regions. Finally, in order to improve the clustering results, a new segmentation matrix is calculated for each area of the image, according to the characteristics of its neighboring areas. Due to the fact that remote sensing images contain a high level of noise, the proposed algorithm is more capable of dealing with noise compared to the conventional Watershed algorithm, and the edges of the image appear better. The test results of the proposed method on a sample of remote sensing image show the practicality and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

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