Connectivity-based multiple-circle fitting

This paper proposes a connectivity-based method for circle $tting. The use of pixel connectivity e3ectively avoids false circle detection, improves the robustness against noise and signi$cantly reduces the computational load. The desired circular models are extracted by searching for meaningful circular arcs. The algorithm does not require a good initial guess, and is e3ective for extracting an a priori unknown number of circles even when the number of outliers exceeds 50%. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method performs well in detecting multiple intersecting or occluded circles. ? 2003 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.