title: A fast implementation of the minimum spanning tree method for phase unwrapping.
abstract: A new implementation of the minimum spanning tree (MST) phase unwrapping method is presented. The time complexity of the MST method is reduced from O(n2) to O(n log2 n), where n is the number of pixels in the phase map. Typical 256 x 256 phase maps from magnetic resonance imaging can be unwrapped in seconds, compared with tens of minutes with the O(n2) implementation. This makes the pixel-level MST method time efficient and practically attractive. Index Terms-Image processing, magnetic resonance imaging, medical imaging, phase unwrapping.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Q S
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chavez
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008838:Microcomputers; D013997:Time Factors