Teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm to minimize cross entropy for Selecting multilevel threshold values

Abstract

Image thresholding is one of the most important approaches for image segmentation. Among multilevel thresholding techniques, cross entropy has been widely used by researchers to find multilevel threshold values. In multilevel cross entropy thresholding techniques, main target is to find an optimal combination of threshold values at different levels for minimizing the cross entropy. In this paper, Teaching-Learning-based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm is used to find an optimal combination of threshold values at different levels for minimizing the cross entropy. TLBO algorithm is inspired by passing on knowledge within a classroom environment where students first gain knowledge from a teacher and then through mutual interaction. This new proposed approach is called the TLBO-based minimum cross entropy thresholding (TLBO-based MCET) algorithm. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested on a number of standard test images. For comparative analysis, the results of TLBO-based MCET algorithm are compared with the results of Firefly-based minimum cross entropy thresholding (FF-based MCET), Honey Bee Mating Optimization-based minimum cross entropy thresholding (HBMO-based MCET) and Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization-based minimum cross entropy thresholding (Quantam PSO-based MCET). Comparative analysis is done based on two most popular objective performance measures, Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Uniformity. From experimental results, it is observed that the proposed method is an efficient and feasible method to search an optimal combination of threshold values at 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th levels. Keywords: Cross entropy, Teacher-Learning-based Optimization (TLBO), Thresholding, PSNR, Uniformity