Classical Fourier analysis applied to a simple out-line: the bovine obturator foramen

Abstract

The purpose of this article it to pre-sent a procedure of shape charac-terisation using the classical Fourier analysis combined with image tech-niques. It was applied to the outline of the obturator foramen of the bo-vine pelvis. This outline was ex-tracted and characterised by an ordered series of harmonics, each harmonic being described by four coefficients. Step by step recon-structions of outlines using an in-creasing number of harmonics were then performed. Although the first seven harmonics reached 93.4 % of the cumulative power, the shape of the obturator foramen was already well described by the first harmonic. It seems that the classical Fourier analysis opens interesting perspec-tives for the study of simple osseous