title: Hybrid Artificial Root Foraging Optimizer Based Multilevel Threshold for Image Segmentation.
abstract: This paper proposes a new plant-inspired optimization algorithm for multilevel threshold image segmentation, namely, hybrid artificial root foraging optimizer (HARFO), which essentially mimics the iterative root foraging behaviors. In this algorithm the new growth operators of branching, regrowing, and shrinkage are initially designed to optimize continuous space search by combining root-to-root communication and coevolution mechanism. With the auxin-regulated scheme, various root growth operators are guided systematically. With root-to-root communication, individuals exchange information in different efficient topologies, which essentially improve the exploration ability. With coevolution mechanism, the hierarchical spatial population driven by evolutionary pressure of multiple subpopulations is structured, which ensure that the diversity of root population is well maintained. The comparative results on a suit of benchmarks show the superiority of the proposed algorithm. Finally, the proposed HARFO algorithm is applied to handle the complex image segmentation problem based on multilevel threshold. Computational results of this approach on a set of tested images show the outperformance of the proposed algorithm in terms of optimization accuracy computation efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Junfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044, China.
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5569-9424
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Northeastern University, Shenyang 110318, China.
authors.forename: Lianbo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5865-7086
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants