Continuous force field analysis for generalized gradient vector flow field

We propose a modification of the generalized gradient vector flow field techniques based on a continuous force field analysis. At every iteration the generalized gradient vector flow method obtains a new, improved vector field. However, the numerical procedure always employs the original image to calculate the gradients used in the source term. The basic idea developed in this paper is to use the resulting vector field to obtain an improved edge map and use it to calculate a new gradient based source term. The improved edge map is evaluated by new continuous force field analysis techniques inspired by a preceding discrete version. The approach leads to a better convergence and better segmentation accuracy as compared to several conventional gradient vector flow type methods. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.