Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation

The problem of image segmentation is one of the most significant ones in computer vision. Recently, deep-learning methods have dominated state-of-the-art solutions that automatically or interactively divide an image into subregions. However, the limitation of deep-learning approaches is that they re...

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Main Author: Anna Fabijanska
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9905586/
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author Anna Fabijanska
author_facet Anna Fabijanska
author_sort Anna Fabijanska
collection DOAJ
description The problem of image segmentation is one of the most significant ones in computer vision. Recently, deep-learning methods have dominated state-of-the-art solutions that automatically or interactively divide an image into subregions. However, the limitation of deep-learning approaches is that they require a substantial amount of training data, which is costly to prepare. An alternative solution is semi-supervised image segmentation. It requires rough denotations to define constraints that are next generalized to precisely delimit relevant image regions without using train examples. Among semi-supervised strategies for image segmentation, the leading are graph-based techniques that define image segmentation as a result of pixel or region affinity graph partitioning. This paper revisits the problem of graph-based image segmentation. It approaches the problem as semi-supervised node classification in the SLIC superpixels region adjacency graph using a graph convolutional network (GCN). The performance of both spectral and spatial graph convolution operators is considered, represented by Chebyshev convolution operator and GraphSAGE respectively. The results of the proposed method applied to binary and multi-label segmentation are presented, numerically assessed, and analyzed. In its best variant, the proposed method scored the average DICE of 0.86 in the binary segmentation task and 0.79 in the multi-label segmentation task. Comparison with state-of-the-art graph-based methods, including Random Walker and GrabCut, shows that graph convolutional networks can represent an attractive alternative to the existing solutions to graph-based semi-supervised image segmentation.
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spelling doaj.art-7e3ac57d7ebd47978a32be315f10c8b42022-12-22T04:29:56ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362022-01-011010414410415510.1109/ACCESS.2022.32105339905586Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image SegmentationAnna Fabijanska0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0249-7247Institute of Applied Computer Science, Lodz University of Technology, Łódź, PolandThe problem of image segmentation is one of the most significant ones in computer vision. Recently, deep-learning methods have dominated state-of-the-art solutions that automatically or interactively divide an image into subregions. However, the limitation of deep-learning approaches is that they require a substantial amount of training data, which is costly to prepare. An alternative solution is semi-supervised image segmentation. It requires rough denotations to define constraints that are next generalized to precisely delimit relevant image regions without using train examples. Among semi-supervised strategies for image segmentation, the leading are graph-based techniques that define image segmentation as a result of pixel or region affinity graph partitioning. This paper revisits the problem of graph-based image segmentation. It approaches the problem as semi-supervised node classification in the SLIC superpixels region adjacency graph using a graph convolutional network (GCN). The performance of both spectral and spatial graph convolution operators is considered, represented by Chebyshev convolution operator and GraphSAGE respectively. The results of the proposed method applied to binary and multi-label segmentation are presented, numerically assessed, and analyzed. In its best variant, the proposed method scored the average DICE of 0.86 in the binary segmentation task and 0.79 in the multi-label segmentation task. Comparison with state-of-the-art graph-based methods, including Random Walker and GrabCut, shows that graph convolutional networks can represent an attractive alternative to the existing solutions to graph-based semi-supervised image segmentation.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9905586/GCNgraph convolutional networksgraph node clusteringregion adjacency graphsemi-supervised image segmentation
spellingShingle Anna Fabijanska
Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
IEEE Access
GCN
graph convolutional networks
graph node clustering
region adjacency graph
semi-supervised image segmentation
title Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
title_full Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
title_fullStr Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
title_full_unstemmed Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
title_short Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Image Segmentation
title_sort graph convolutional networks for semi supervised image segmentation
topic GCN
graph convolutional networks
graph node clustering
region adjacency graph
semi-supervised image segmentation
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9905586/
work_keys_str_mv AT annafabijanska graphconvolutionalnetworksforsemisupervisedimagesegmentation