Variable neighborhood search for geometrically deformable templates

Abstract

This paper proposes two modifications to the geometrically deformable template model. First, the optimization stage originally based on simulated annealing is replaced with a meta-heuristic called Variable Neighborhood Search that treats simulated annealing as a local search tool. Second, an affine deformation energy is introduced to improve the quality of the search. An example of optic disc segmentation in an ophthalmic image is given.