2014Han Automatic

Citation

Han, R.; Zhang, F.; Wan, X.; Fernández, J.-J.; Sun, F. & Liu, Z. A marker-free automatic alignment method based on scale-invariant features. Journal of structural biology, 2014, 186, 167-180

Abstract

In electron tomography, alignment accuracy is critical for high-resolution reconstruction. However, the automatic alignment of a tilt series without fiducial markers remains a challenge. Here, we propose a new alignment method based on Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) for marker-free alignment. The method covers the detection and localization of interest points (features), feature matching, feature tracking and optimization of projection parameters. The proposed method implements a highly reliable matching strategy and tracking model to detect a huge number of feature tracks. Furthermore, an incremental bundle adjustment method is devised to tolerate noise data and ensure the accurate estimation of projection parameters. Our method was evaluated with a number of experimental data, and the results exhibit an improved alignment accuracy comparable with current fiducial marker alignment and subsequent higher resolution of tomography.

Links

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047847714000458