An Efficient Local Radial Basis Function Method for Image Segmentation Based on the Chan–Vese Model

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the Chan-Vese (C-V) model for image segmentation and obtain its numerical solution accurately and efficiently. For this purpose, we present a local radial basis function method based on a Gaussian kernel (GA-LRBF) for spatial discretization. Compared to the standard radial basis function method, this approach consumes less CPU time and maintains good stability because it uses only a small subset of points in the whole computational domain. Additionally, since the Gaussian function has the property of dimensional separation, the GA-LRBF method is suitable for dealing with isotropic images. Finally, a numerical scheme that couples GA-LRBF with the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is applied to the C-V model, and a comparison of some numerical results demonstrates that this scheme achieves much more reliable image segmentation.