Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Data Mining Techniques and Applications

Volume: 04 Issue: 01 June 2015 Page No.10-14

ISSN: 2278-2419

Segmentation of Tiles Image Using Various Edge

Detection Techniques
C.Umamaheswari 1, R.Bhavani2,K.Thirunadana Sikamani 3S
Research Scholar, 2Professor, 3Professor,
1

Dept. of computer science, Annamalai University, Chidambaram

1, 2
3
Dept. of Computer Science, Anna University, Chennai
Email:[email protected][email protected]@yahoo.com

Abstract—Segmentation is a major step in image processing. and noise hold high-frequency content. Efforts to reduce the
Segmentation subdivides an image into its constituent regions noise result in unclear and distorted edges. This results in less
or objects. Image segmentation segments the object from the perfect localization of the detected edges; and results in
background to understand the quality of the image properly problems of fake edge detection, edge localization, and missing
and to identify the content of the image carefully. true edges [7-9]. In this paper gradient based classical operators
Segmentation can be done as Edge-based segmentation or like Robert, Prewitt, Sobel, Laplacian based operator LoG and
Region based segmentation. Edge based segmentation Canny operators were used for edge based segmentation.
considerably reduces the amount of data and filters out useless
information, while preserving the important structural
II. EDGEMODELS
properties in an image. Since it is very much needed to have a
good understanding of Edge based segmentation. In this paper
an attempt is made to study the performance of most Edge models are classified according to their intensity profiles.
commonly used edge detection techniques for edge based
image segmentation. The comparisons of these techniques are A. Step-edge model
carried out with a tiles image as an experiment by using
MATLAB software. A step edge involves a transition between two intensity levels
occurring ideally over the distance of one pixel. Digital step-
Keywords— Image Segmentation, Edge detection, Gradient, edges are used frequently as edge models in algorithm
Laplacian development. Canny edge detection algorithm was derived
using a step-edge model.
I. INTRODUCTION
B. Ramp-edge model
The image segmentation is used to reduce the information for
easy analysis.The component parts or objects of an image is In practice, digital images have edges that are blurred and noise.
separated by image segmentation[1]. Usually, the process of In such situation, edges are more closely modelled has having
image segmentation is done using edge detection techniques, an intensity ramp profile. The slope of the ramp is inversely
which detects the edges depending upon the level of intensity proportional to the degree of blurring in the edge. Instead, an
difference of pixels and the level of discontinuity [2-3]. The edge point is any point contained in the ramp, and edge segment
choice of image segmentation technique depends on the quality would then be a set of such points that are connected.
of the edge detecting operators. For the last few decades there
has been a lot of research work is carried out in this field. The C. Roof Model
edge detection performance measure is how well edge detector
markings match with the visual perception of object boundaries Roof edges are models of lines through a region, with the base
[4]. Points, lines, and edges are the three types of image of a roof edge being determined by the thickness and sharpness
features.The edge pixels are pixels at which the intensity of an of the line. In the limit, when its base is one pixel wide a roof
image function changes abruptly, and the sets of connected edge is really nothing more than one- pixel-thick line running
edge pixels are called edges. Edge detectors are local image through a region in an image.
processing methods designed to detect edge pixels. The
detection process is carried out by the examination of local
intensity changes at each pixel element of an image. Traditional
methods of edge detection involves that the image through an
operator/filter, which is constructed to be perceptive to large Step edge Ramp edge Roof edge
gradients in the image, although returning values of zero in
uniform regions [5-6]. A large number of edge detection
techniques are available, with mainly each technique designed Figure 1. Edge Models
to be perceptive to certain types of edges. Variables related to
the selection of an edge detection operator consist of edge III. PROPOSED METHOD
orientation, edge structure and noise environment. Edge
detection is a difficult task in noisy images, as both the edges
10
Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Data Mining Techniques and Applications
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 June 2015 Page No.10-14
ISSN: 2278-2419
Due to the presence of noise, the problems of false edge
detection, missing of true edges, producing thick or thin lines
etc. are caused.In the proposed method the color image is
converted into Gray scale image and it is taken as input to the
most commonly used edge detection operators (robert, sobel,
prewitt, LoG, and canny). Segmentation is performed after
Binary and Dilated Gradient mask with threshold using edge Figure4.Gradient
detection operatorsand we did the visual comparison of images
for the problem of in-accurate edge detection, omitting of true
edges, generating thin or thick lines and problems due to noise
etc. The comparison of these techniques is carried out with a
defected tile image as an experiment. The software is developed Figure5. Laplacian
using MATLAB R2009a.
V. THE FOUR STEPS OF EDGE DETECTION
Edge Detection
 Smoothing: suppress as much noise as possible, without
destroying the true edges.
 Enhancement: apply a filter to enhance the quality of the
Gray Scale Segmentation after edges in the image (sharpening).
Image Binary Gradient  Detection: determine which edge pixels should be discarded
mask and Dilated as noise and which should be retained (usually, thresholding
Gradient mask with provides the criterion used for detection).
threshold  Localization: determine the exact location of an edge (sub-
Colour pixel resolution might be required for some applications, that is,
Image estimate the location of an edge to better than the spacing
between pixels). Edge thinning and linking are usually required
Figure 2. Proposed Method in this step.

IV. METHODOLOGIES VI. PROPERTIES OF THE GRADIENT

Edge detection is performed in many different ways. The  The magnitude of gradient provides information about the
majority of the methods are grouped into three categories:[11] strength of the edge.[10]
Gradient Based Edge Detection: In this type derivative of image  The direction of gradient is always perpendicular to the
is taken by edge detectors and edges are detected by looking for direction of the edge (the edge direction is rotated with
maximum and minimum in that derivative.Taking its gradient respect to the gradient direction by -90 degrees).[10]
with respect to t of figure 1 is shown in figure2.

Laplacian Based Edge Detection: To find edges, the Laplacian

method searches for zero crossings in the second derivative of
the image. Furthermore, when the first derivative is at a
maximum, the second derivative is zero. As a result, another
alternative to finding the location of an edge is to locate the
zeros in the second derivative. The Laplacian and the second
derivative of the signal with respect to t of figure1 is shown in
Figure 6. Edge is perpendicular to direction of gradient
figure3.
Here edge detection method takes the assumption edges are the
Non-derivative Based Edge Detection:This category of edge pixels with a highgradient. For finding edge strength and
detectors do not require image derivatives at all. direction at location (x, y) of the image f is the gradient,
denoted by f, and defined as the vector

Gx
f =grad (f) = Gy (1)

The magnitude of vector f denoted as M(x,y), where

Figure3.(Example) M(x, y)=mag( f)= Gx2+Gy2 (2)
The direction of the gradient vector is given by the angle
Gy
α(x,y)=tan-1Gx (3)
Where,
11
Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Data Mining Techniques and Applications
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 June 2015 Page No.10-14
ISSN: 2278-2419
Gx=f(x+1,y)-f(x,y) (4)
Gy=f(x,y+1)-f(x,y) (5) - - -1 - 0 1
1 1 1
These two equations are used to implement all values of f(x,y)
with the masks: 0 0 0 - 0 1
1
TABLE 1- 1-D MASKTOIMPLEMENTEQS. 4 AND 5.
1 1 1 - 0 1
1
- - 1
1 1 GxGy
These masks are called the Prewitt operators.
1
C. Sobeloperator

To find diagonal edge direction 2-D mask is used. Consider 3×3 Sobel operator is a discrete differentiation operator used to
region in the following figure for 2-D mask, compute an approximation of the gradient of image intensity
function for edge detection. At each pixel of an image, sobel
TABLE 2. 2-D Mask operator gives either the corresponding gradient vector or
normal to the vector. It convolves the input image with kernel
and computes the gradient magnitude and direction. It uses
z z2 z3
following 3x3 two kernels:
1
TABLE 5 .2-D MASKTOIMPLEMENTEQS.10AND 11.
z4 z5 z6
- - -1 - 0 1
z7 z8 z9
1 2 1

VII. EDGE DETECTION TECHNIQUES 0 0 0 - 0 2

GxGy 2
A. Robertscross-gradientoperator
It uses a 1 2 1 - 0 1 weight of 2 in
Robert cross-gradient operators are one of the earliest attempts the center 1 coefficient.
to use 2-D mask with squares of the difference between Using 2 in the center
diagonally adjacent pixels through discrete differentiation and location provides image smoothing.
then calculate approximate gradient of the image. The input
image is convolved with the default kernels of operator and Gx=(z7+2z8+z9)-(z1+2z2+z3) (10)
gradient magnitude and directions are computed. It uses Gy=(z3+2z6+z9)-(z1+2z4+z7) (11)
following 2 x2 two kernels.
TABLE 3 -.2-D MASKTOIMPLEMENTEQS.6AND 7. These masks are called the sobel operators.As compared to
Robert operator have slow computation ability but as it has
large kernel so it is less sensitive to noise as compared to Robert
- 0 0 - operator. As having larger mask, errors due to effects of noise
1 1 are reduced by local averaging within the neighborhood of the
0 1 1 0 mask.It is possible to modify 3×3 masks, so that they have
strongest responses along the diagonal directions. The two
GxGy additional Prewitt and Sobel masks needed for detecting edges
Here, Gx=(z9-z5) (6) in the diagonal directions are
Gy=(z8-z6) (7)
TABLE 6 PREWITT MASKS FOR DETECTING DIAGONAL EDGES
The plus factor of this operator is its simplicity but having small
kernel it is highly sensitive to noise and not much compatible 0 1 1 -1 - 0
with today’s technology. 1
B. Prewittoperator : - 0 1 -1 0 1
The difference between the third and first rows of the 3×3 1
region approximates the derivative in the x-direction and the TABLE - - 0 0 1 1
difference between the third and first columns approximate the 7 .SOBELMASK 1 1 SFORDETECTINGDIAG
derivate in the y-direction. This is more accurate than Roberts’s ONALEDGES
operators. The equations
Gx=(z7+z8+z9)-(z1+z2+z3) (8)
0 1 2 -2 - 0
Gy=(z3+z6+z9)-(z1+z4+z7) (9)
1
Can be implemented over entire image by filtering f with the - 0 1 -1 0 1
two masks in 1
TABLE 4 .2-D MASKTOIMPLEMENTEQS.8AND9.
- - 0 0 1 2
12 2 1
Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Data Mining Techniques and Applications
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 June 2015 Page No.10-14
ISSN: 2278-2419
D. LoG(Laplacian of a Gaussian) operator[11]: extracting the principal edge features of the image. The original
image, the image obtained by using different edge detection
This operator belongs to Laplacian based edge detectors class. techniques and the segmented image using various edge
This operator highlights the regions of rapid intensity changes detection operators are given in the following figures.
in an image. As the Laplacian of an image detects the noise (a).Edge detected Images using various edge detector operators
along with the edges in an image, the image is smoothened first
by convolving by a 2-D Gaussian kernel of standard deviation
C
G(x,y)=e-(x2+y2)/2σ2(12)
The expression for LOG is given as
x2+y2-2 σ2
2
G(x,y)= e-(x2+y2)/2σ2
σ (13)
4

LoG is then convolved with input image f(x,y) giving resultant

edge map.
g(x,y) = f(x,y) * 2G(x,y) (14)
TABLE 8. 5*5 MASKUSEDFORLOGOPERATOR

0 0 1 0 0
0 1 2 1 0
1 2 - 2 1
16
0 1 2 1 0
0 0 1 0 0
LoG
The kernels of any size can be approximated by using the above
expression for LoG.
LoG operator can thus be obtained by the following steps:
1. Apply Log to the input image.
2. Detect the zero-crossings of the image.
3.Apply threshold to minimize the weak zero-crossings caused Figure 7
due to noise.
E. CannyEdgeDetector (b).Segmented images using various Edge Detection operators:
The Canny edge detector is regarded as one of the best edge
detectors currently in use, Canny's edge detector ensures good
noise immunity and at the same time detects true edge points
with minimum error.Canny’s approach is based on three basic
objectives [12]
1. Low error rate: Canny edge is as close as to the tree edge.
2. Edge points should be well localized: Distance between
canny edge and the true edge is minimum. Figure 8
3. Single edge point response: It will not find multiple edge
points when single edge point exit[13].

VIII. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

This section presents the relative performance of various edge

detection techniques such asRoberts’s edge detector, Sobel
Edge Detector, Prewitt edge detector, LoG edge detector and
Canny Edge Detector. A simulation study is done to compare
the various methods for segmentation and to detect the edges
accurately. The edge detection techniques were implemented
using MATLAB R2009a, and tested with an experiment using
tiles images.The objective is to produce a clean edge map by

13
Integrated Intelligent Research (IIR) International Journal of Data Mining Techniques and Applications
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 June 2015 Page No.10-14
ISSN: 2278-2419
By visual inspection it is clear that gradient based classical
operators like Robert, Prewitt, and Sobel were used for edge
detection did not give sharp edges and they were highly
sensitive to noise image. Laplacian based LoG operators also
suffers from two limitations, the probability of detecting false
edges is high and at the curved edges, the localization error may
be severe but Canny operator proposed by John F. Canny in
1986 is the ideal for segmentation of images that are corrupted
with noise. Even though, the Canny’s edge detection algorithm
has a better performance. Canny’s edge detection algorithm is
more costly in comparing to Sobel, Prewitt and Robert’s
operator. Depending on the application technique it varies.

REFERENCES
[1] Amit Chaudhary,Tarun Gulati “Segmenting Digital Images using Edge
Detection”,International Journal of Application or Innovation in
Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2013
Page 319
[2] S. Lakshmi & V.Sankaranarayanan (2010) “A Study of edge detection
techniques for segmentation computing approaches”, Computer Aided
Soft Computing Techniques for Imaging and Biomedical Applications,
35-41.
[3] P. Thakare (2011) “A Study of Image Segmentation and Edge Detection
Techniques”, International Journal on Computer Science and
Engineering, Vol 3, No.2, 899-904.
[4] Werner Frei and Chung-Ching Chen. Fast boundary detection: A
generalization and a new algorithm. Computers, IEEETransactions on,
100(10):988–998, 1977.
[5] K. J. Pithadiya, C. K. Modi & J. D. Chauhan (2011), “Selecting the Most
Favourable Edge Detection Technique for Liquid Level Inspection in
Bottles” International Journal of Computer Information Systems and
Industrial Management Applications (IJCISIM) ISSN: 2150-7988 Vol.3,
pp.034-044, 2011.
[6] S. Jeong You & N. I. Choet (2011), “A New Image Denoising Method
Based On The Wavelet Domain Nonlocal Means Filtering”, International
Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), pp.
1141-1144.
[7] Z. Zhang & G. Zhao (2011), “Butterworth filter and Sobel edge detection
to image”, International Conference on Multimedia Technology (ICMT),
pp. 254-256.
[8] Deng, W. Ma & Y. Yin (2011), “An Edge Detection Approach of Image
Fusion Based on Improved Sobel Operator” 4th International Congress
on Image and Signal Processing, pp. 1189-1193.
[9] Zhang Jin-Yu, Chen Yan, Huang Xian-Xiang (2009), “Edge Detection of
Images Based on Improved Sobel Operator and Genetic Algorithms”,
International Conference on Image Analysis and Signal Processing
(ICASP),pp. 31-35.
Figure 9 [10] R. C. Gonzalez and R. E. Woods. Digital Image Processing, Second
Edition, Prentice Hall, 2002. [5] J. A. Madhuri. Digital Image processing.
[11] Ayaz Akram, Asad Ismail, Comparison of Edge Detectors International
Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research
(IJCSITR) Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp: (16-24), Month: October-December 2013,
[12] Canny, J. F. (1986). A computation approach to edge detectors.
IEEETransactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.
[13] T. Acharya and A. K. Ray. Image Processing Principles and
Applications, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,2005.

Figure 10

IX. CONCLUSION

14