A NEW SET OF FAST ALGORITHMS FOR MATHEMATICAL MORPHOLOGY .2. IDENTIFICATION OF TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES ON GRAYSCALE IMAGES

New algorithms for morphological image processing are presented. These algorithms are based on recursive idempotent geodesic transforms using a pixel-dependent structuring element. Such transforms are used as building blocks to construct new, fast algorithms for the location of topographic features on grayscale images. This approach is first used for the location of regional extrema and then for watershed and water parting determination. The new algorithms are compared to previously known ones in terms of speed and results quality. The same basic transforms are also used to build evaluation tools for measuring the relative importance of watersheds and water partings. The usefulness of the new approach is illustrated by application examples on a biomedical image. © 1992.