LAUSR

This article presents a novel variational model based on fuzzy clustering and total variation regularization for superpixel segmentation. Compared with the classical hard-labeled methodologies, our approach gives soft results via the fuzzy membership function, and moreover, the use of total variation provides additional information that can enhance the superpixel regularity, which in turn improves the segmentation performance. To efficiently minimize the energy functional of the proposed model, we adopt an alternating direction method of multipliers with the modified Chambolle’s fast duality projection algorithm. Our algorithm can generate regular and compact superpixels with high segmentation accuracy, satisfactory boundary adherence, and low computational cost. Comparative experimental results with the current state-of-the-art approaches reveal the superior performance of the proposed method.