Boundary detection through dynamic polygons

Abstract

A method for the Bayesian restoration of noisy binary images portraying an object with constant grey level on a background is presented. The restoration, performed by fitting a polygon with any number of sides to the object's outline, is driven by a new probabilistic model for the generation of polygons in a compact subset of R2, which is used as a prior distribution for the polygon. Some measurability issues raised by the correct specification of the model are addressed. The simulation from the prior and the calculation of the a posteriori mean of grey levels are carried out through reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo computation, whose implementation and convergence properties are also discussed. One example of restoration of a synthetic image is presented and compared with existing pixel-based methods. © 1998 Royal Statistical Society.