Robust and highly performant ring detection algorithm for 3d particle tracking using 2d microscope imaging

作     者：Afik, Eldad 

作者机构：Weizmann Inst Sci Dept Phys Complex Syst IL-76100 Rehovot Israel 

出 版 物：《SCIENTIFIC REPORTS》 (科学报告)

年 卷 期：2015年第5卷第1期

页      面：13584-13584页

核心收录：

学科分类：12[管理学] 1201[管理学-管理科学与工程(可授管理学、工学学位)] 08[工学] 

基　　金：German-Israel Foundation (GIF) Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture Cooperation (Germany) 

主　　题：PARTICLE tracking velocimetry DIFFRACTION patterns HOUGH transforms COMPUTER algorithms COMPUTER software development 

摘      要：Three-dimensional particle tracking is an essential tool in studying dynamics under the microscope, namely, fluid dynamics in microfluidic devices, bacteria taxis, cellular trafficking. The 3d position can be determined using 2d imaging alone by measuring the diffraction rings generated by an out-of- focus fluorescent particle, imaged on a single camera. Here I present a ring detection algorithm exhibiting a high detection rate, which is robust to the challenges arising from ring occlusion, inclusions and overlaps, and allows resolving particles even when near to each other. It is capable of real time analysis thanks to its high performance and low memory footprint. The proposed algorithm, an offspring of the circle Hough transform, addresses the need to efficiently trace the trajectories of many particles concurrently, when their number in not necessarily fixed, by solving a classification problem, and overcomes the challenges of finding local maxima in the complex parameter space which results from ring clusters and noise. Several algorithmic concepts introduced here can be advantageous in other cases, particularly when dealing with noisy and sparse data. The implementation is based on open-source and cross-platform software packages only, making it easy to distribute and modify. It is implemented in a microfluidic experiment allowing real-time multi-particle tracking at 70 Hz, achieving a detection rate which exceeds 94% and only 1% false-detection.