In this paper, a novel matched filter based on a new kernel function with Cauchy distribution is introduced to improve the accuracy of the automatic retinal vessel detection compared with other available matched filter-based methods, most notably, the methods built on Gaussian distribution function. Several experiments are conducted to pick the best values of the parameters for the new designed filter, including both Cauchy function parameters as well as the matched filter parameters such as the threshold value. Moreover, the thresholding phase is enhanced with a two-step procedure. Experimental results employed on DRIVE retinal images database confirms that the proposed method has higher accuracy compared with other available matched filter-based methods.
Keywords: Cauchy probability density function; DRIVE database; Gaussian matched filter; retina image; retinopathy; vessels detection.