A new shadow detection index for 8-band very high-resolution satellite images

ABSTRACT

The new generation of remote sensing satellite with very high-resolution images has provided a high level of details, which make them a reliable source of information. Presence of shadow can reduce the amount of information that can be extracted from these images. Shadow can be confused with dark objects such as water and dark vegetation. The main aim of this research is to develop a new index to detect shadow in the presence of dark objects using the capabilities of the new remote sensing satellite images. For this study, WorldView-2 (WV-2) remote sensing satellite images with eight spectral bands were used. A spectral reflectance analysis for the main ground features has been studied along the eight spectral bands to determine the most effective bands for shadow detection. These bands are employed with the Hue-Saturation-Intensity colour model for producing the new proposed Saturation Intensity Shadow Detection Index (SISDI). The proposed index is applied to four study areas and compared with two state-of-the-art indices of shadow detection. Results of this comparison demonstrate the more accuracy effectiveness and feasibility of that proposed index. The proposed index achieves the highest overall accuracy (average of 97.8%) and has the ability for detecting small shadow areas.     

Corresponding regions for shadow restoration in satellite high-resolution images

ABSTRACT

High spatial resolution images available by satellites such as Ikonos, Quickbird, and WorldView-2 provide more information for remote sensing applications, such as object detection, classification, change detection, and object mapping. The presence of shadow reduces the amount of information that can be extracted and consequently makes these applications more difficult or even impossible. In this article, a shadow restoration approach for high-resolution satellite images is proposed. The approach detects the shadow area and segments the image into regions according to the land surface type. Then, shadow restoration is carried out for each region based on the degree of correspondence between shadow and neighbouring non-shadow regions. The proposed approach is applied to study areas from Ikonos and WorldView-2 satellite images. A comparison to the standard approaches for shadow restoration is performed, and an accuracy assessment is carried out by visual inspection and land-cover classification. The results show that the enhanced shadow regions using the proposed approach have better appearances and are highly compatible with their surrounding non-shadow regions. In addition, the overall accuracy is higher than those of the standard approaches.     

A new rigorous model for high-resolution satellite imagery orientation: application to EROS A and QuickBird

The correct georeferencing of remote sensing imagery is a fundamental task for orthoimages, digital elevation models (DEMs)/digital surface models (DSMs) generation and 3D feature/object extraction. In this article we focus on the georeferencing of pushbroom sensors imagery, in particular single images collected by EROS A and QuickBird satellites, with a rigorous model that is based on the collinearity equations. The model, implemented in the software SISAR (Software per Immagini Satellitari ad Alta Risoluzione), reconstructs the orbital segment during image acquisition through the Keplerian orbital parameters, the sensor attitude, the internal orientation and additional self-calibration parameters. With respect to the estimation procedure, in order to avoid possible instabilities due to high correlations among some parameters leading to design matrix pseudo-singularity, singular value decomposition (SVD) and QR decomposition are used to select the estimable parameters and finally to solve the extended linearized collinearity equations system in the least square (LS) sense.

To test the effectiveness of the new model, SISAR results are compared with the rigorous model implemented in the well-known commercial software OrthoEngine 10.0 (PCI Geomatics, ON, Canada). In this article six images are concerned (two from EROS A and four from QuickBird), showing that SISAR performances are at the level of the OrthoEngine ones.     

RTDNet：面向高分辨率卫星影像的赤潮探测网络

目的 赤潮是一种常见的海洋生态灾害,严重威胁海洋生态系统安全。及时准确获取赤潮的发生和分布信息可以为赤潮的预警和防治提供有力支撑。然而,受混合像元和水环境要素影响,赤潮分布精细探测仍是挑战。针对赤潮边缘探测的难点,结合赤潮边缘高频特征学习与位置语义,提出了一种计算量小、精度高的网络模型RTD-Net （red tide detection network）。方法 针对赤潮边缘探测不准确的问题,设计了基于RIR （residual-in-residual）结构的网络,以提取赤潮边缘水体的高频特征;利用多感受野结构和坐标注意力机制捕获赤潮水体的位置语义信息,增强赤潮边缘水体的细节信息并抑制无用的特征。结果 在GF1-WFV （Gaofen1 wide field of view）赤潮数据集上的实验结果表明,所提出的RTDNet模型赤潮探测效果不仅优于支持向量机（support vector machine,SVM）、U-Net、Deep-Labv3+及HRNet （high-resolution network）等通用机器学习和深度学习模型,而且也优于赤潮指数法GF1_RI （Gaofen1 red tide index ）以及赤潮探测专用深度学习模型RDU-Net （red tide detection U-Net）,赤潮误提取、漏提取现象明显减少,F1分数在两幅测试图像上分别达到了0.905和0.898,相较于性能第2的模型DeepLabv3+提升了2%以上。而且,所提出的模型参数量小,仅有2.65 MB,约为DeepLabv3+的13%。结论 面向赤潮探测提出一种基于RIR结构的赤潮深度学习探测模型,通过融合多感受野结构和注意力机制提升了赤潮边缘探测的精度和稳定性,同时有效降低了计算量。本文方法展现了较好的应用效果,可适用于不同高分辨率卫星影像的赤潮探测。     

Urban road extraction from high-resolution optical satellite images

In recent years, many approaches have been exploited for automatic urban road extraction. Most of these approaches are based on edge and line detecting algorithms. In this paper, a new integrated system for automatic extraction of main roads in high-resolution optical satellite images is present. Firstly, a multi-scale greylevel morphological cleaning algorithm is proposed to reduce the grey deviation of the road regions. Secondly, based on the greylevel difference between road surfaces and environmental objects, a colour high-resolution satellite image is segmented into a simplified imagemap by using the mean shift algorithm, which consists of three stages. The first stage deals with image filtering, the second stage deals with colour segmentation, and the third stage is proposed to fuse small regions in the segmented image. The mean shift filter algorithm not only smoothes the image, but also preserves abrupt changes (i.e. edges) in the local structure. The mean shift segmentation algorithm is a straightforward extension of the smoothing algorithm, which preserves discontinuity. From the histogram of the simplified imagemap, we can find the potential road surfaces, and use greylevel threshold to convert the segmented image into a binary one. The binary image is processed by using binary mathematical morphological closing and opening to remove small objects and to open the connected street blocks. We use a contour tracing algorithm to remove holes in street-block regions and to detect the street blocks' contours. In this research we found that many street blocks' contours were preserved perfectly, except for some of them which were depressed. Finally, we utilize the convex hull algorithm to smooth the street blocks' zigzag edges and to close the gaps in some street blocks, and then, we get the road edges. The integrated system for road network extraction is tested on the red band of an IKONOS multispectral image; all algorithms in this study are developed in C++ under Windows XP operating system. Results of the road network extraction are presented to illustrate the validation of the extracting strategy and the corresponding algorithms in this research, and future prospects are exposed.     

Line-based rational function model for high-resolution satellite imagery

The object-to-image transformation of high-resolution satellite images often involves a rational functional model (RFM). Traditionally, RFM uses point features to obtain the transformation coefficients. Since control lines offer greater flexibility than control points, this study proposes a new RFM approach based on linear features. The proposed methods include direct RFM and bias-compensated RFM using control lines. The former obtains the rational polynomial coefficients (RPCs) directly from control lines, whereas the latter uses sensor-orientated RPCs and control lines to determine compensated coefficients. The line-based RFMs include vector and parametric line representations. The experiments in this study analysed the effects of line number, orientation, and length using simulation and real data. The real data combined three-dimensional building models and high-resolution satellite images, such as IKONOS and QuickBird images. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can achieve pixel-level accuracy.     

An adaptive fuzzy-genetic algorithm approach for building detection using high-resolution satellite images

We propose a new approach for building detection using high-resolution satellite imagery based on an adaptive fuzzy-genetic algorithm. This novel approach improves object detection accuracy by reducing the premature convergence problem encountered when using genetic algorithms. We integrate the fundamental image processing operators with genetic algorithm concepts such as population, chromosome, gene, crossover and mutation. To initiate the approach, training samples are selected that represent the specified two feature classes, in this case “building” and “non-building”. The image processing operations are carried out on a chromosome-by-chromosome basis to reveal the attribute planes. These planes are then reduced to one hyperplane that is optimal for discriminating between the specified feature classes. For each chromosome, the fitness values are calculated through the analysis of detection and mis-detection rates. This analysis is followed by genetic algorithm operations such as selection, crossover and mutation. At the end of each generation cycle, the adaptive-fuzzy module determines the new (adjusted) probabilities of crossover and mutation. This evolutionary process repeats until a specified number of generations has been reached. To enhance the detected building patches, morphological image processing operations are applied. The approach was tested on ten different test scenes of the Batikent district of the city of Ankara, Turkey using 1 m resolution pan-sharpened IKONOS imagery. The kappa statistics computed for the proposed adaptive fuzzy-genetic algorithm approach were between 0.55 and 0.88. The extraction performance of the algorithm was better for urban and suburban buildings than for buildings in rural test scenes.     

A semi-supervised probabilistic model for clustering large databases of complex images

Image content clustering is an effective way to organize large databases thereby making the content based image retrieval process much easier. However, clustering of images with varied background and foreground is quite challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel image content clustering paradigm suitable for clustering large and diverse image databases. In our approach images are represented in a continuous domain based on a probabilistic Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) with the images modeled as mixture of Gaussian distributions in the selected feature space. The distance metric between the Gaussian distributions is defined in the sense of Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence. The clustering is done using a semi-supervised learning framework where labeled data in the form of cluster templates is used to classify the unlabelled data. The clusters are formed around initially chosen seeds and are updated in the due course based on user inputs. In our clustering approach the user interaction is done in a structured way as to get maximum inputs from the user in a limited time. We propose two methods to carry out the structured user interaction using which the cluster templates are updated to improve the quality of the clusters formed. The proposed method is experimentally evaluated on benchmark datasets that are specifically chosen to include a wide variation of images around a common theme that is typically encountered in applications like photo-summarization and poses a major semantic gap challenge to conventional clustering approaches. The experimental results presented demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

一种新的无线传感器网络分簇模型

从工业现场应用的角度对无线传感器网络进行研究,提出了一种新的双簇头分级模型。该模型在单簇头模型的基础上增加了一个冗余簇头节点,在簇头节点电池耗尽或出现故障之时,冗余簇头节点能够实时切换成簇头节点以维持簇稳定工作。介绍了双簇头分级模型的工作原理、覆盖范围和能耗管理,并且对该模型的性能进行了实验仿真,实验结论证明双簇头分级模型比之单簇头分级模型有更好的稳定性和安全性,以及长的生存时间而更适合应用于工业现场。     

A new change-detection method in high-resolution remote sensing images based on a conditional random field model

A new change-detection method for remote sensing images based on a conditional random field (CRF) model is proposed in this paper. The method artfully uses memberships of Fuzzy C-means as unary potentials in the fully connected CRF (FCCRF) model without training parameters, and pairwise potentials of the CRF model are defined by a linear combination of Gaussian kernels, with which a highly efficient approximate inference algorithm can be used. The proposed FCCRF model is expressed on the complete set of pixels in both the observed multitemporal images, which can incorporate long range contextual information of remote-sensing images and enable greatly refined change-detection results. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach leads to more accurate pixel-level change-detection performance and is more robust against noise than traditional algorithms.     

新型适用于基因表达数据的模型聚类方法

针对EM算法中的初始类的数目很难决定,在迭代中经常产生部分最优的情况,将K-means算法与基于EM的聚类方法相结合,提出了一个新的适用于基因表达数据的模型聚类方法。新的聚类方法,首先利用K-means算法具有全局性、效率高的优点,快速得到聚类的起始类的划分,将其设置为高斯混合模型的初始参数值,进一步采用EM方法进行聚类,得到最优聚类结果。通过2次对真实数据集的实验测试,将新的算法分别与K均值算法和EM算法进行了比较。实验结果表明,新算法是一种有效的聚类方法,聚类结果的准确度得到了提高。     

A two-stage framework for road extraction from high-resolution satellite images by using prominent features of impervious surfaces

The segmentation and classification of high-resolution satellite images (HRSI) are useful approaches to extract information. In recent times, roads and buildings have been classified for analysis of urban areas in a better manner. Apart from these, healthy trees are also an important factor in HRSI, i.e. adjacent to roads, and vegetation. They reflect the area in an image as land cover. Other important information, shadow, is extracted from satellite images, which indicates the presence of trees and built-up areas such as buildings, flyovers, etc. In this article, a weighted membership-function-based fuzzy c-means with spatial constraints (WMFCSC) approach for automated satellite image classification is proposed. Initially, spatially fuzzy clustering is used to classify the satellite images in healthy trees with vegetation, roads, and shadows, which includes the information of spatial constraints. The road results of the classified image are still having non-road segments. Therefore, the proposed four intermediate stages (IS) are used to extract the road information, followed by the results of road areas of the WMFCSC approach. The framework of IS helps to remove the false road segments which are adjacent to roads and renovates the segmented roads due to the shadow effect. A final step of a hybrid WMFCSC-IS approach is used to extract the road network. The results of classified images confirm the effectiveness of the WMFCSC-IS approach for satellite image classification.     

Photogrammetric processing of high-resolution airborne and satellite linear array stereo images for mapping applications

This article introduces a mathematical model for photogrammetric processing of linear array stereo images acquired by high-resolution satellite imaging systems such as IKONOS. The experimental result of the generation of simulated IKONOS stereo images based on photogrammetric principles, IKONOS imaging geometry and a set of georeferenced aerial images is presented. An accuracy analysis of ground points derived from the simulated IKONOS stereo images is performed. The impact of the number of GCPs (ground control points), distribution of GCPs, and image measurement errors on the ground point accuracy is investigated. It is concluded that an accuracy of ground coordinates from 2 m to 3 m is attainable with GCPs, and 5 m to 12 m without GCPs. Two data sets of HRSC (high resolution stereo camera) and MOMS (modular opto-electronic multispectral stereo-scanner)-2P are also utilized to test the model and system. The presented data processing method is a key to the generation of mapping products such as digital terrain models (DEM) and digitial shorelines from high-resolution satellite images.     

A new clustering method for the diagnosis of CoVID19 using medical images

Applied Intelligence - With the spread of COVID-19, there is an urgent need for a fast and reliable diagnostic aid. For the same, literature has witnessed that medical imaging plays a vital role,...     

Matching conjugate points between multi-resolution satellite images using geometric and radiometric properties

Remotely sensed images are the main source for a variety of mapping and change-detection applications. Images from different satellites are employed in several of these applications. However, each type of these images has a different resolution and orientation. Hence, they need to be co-registered before any meaningful use. The first step in the registration process is to find conjugate points between the images. This paper presents a modified method of the Scott and Longuet-Higgins approach to find conjugate points between different remotely sensed images. In such an algorithm, initially, corner points are automatically extracted in two images, and for each pair of points, a cost value is computed. The cost of corresponding any two points is computed using two-dimensional transformation models and pixel intensities. The cost values are then used to fill a cost matrix, and its singular value decomposition is used to find corresponding points. The algorithm is tested on three pairs of satellite images with different resolutions and orientations. The results show that the approach presented here succeeded in finding 93% of conjugate points between different pairs of satellite images using only the image coordinates through the eight-parameter transformation model. Moreover, the results show that including the image intensities in the matching procedure does change the results significantly.     

A hybrid chaotic blowfish encryption for high-resolution satellite imagery

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this article, we have designed a new information confidentiality mechanism based on the combination of Blowfish encryption algorithm along with Henon and Chen...     

A new method of data transformation for satellite images: I. Methodology and transformation equations for TM images

These two papers deal with a new method of data transformation. By analysing grey level curves (broken lines) of various ground features in image bands of different satellites, we have found that, inherent in 3‐ or 4‐band satellite images (SPOT, IKONOS, Quick Bird, OrbView, FORMOSAT and MSS) there are three basic remote‐sensing characteristics as follows: (1) the general radiance level L; (2) the visible–infrared radiation balance B; and (3) the band radiance variation vector (direction and speed) V. However, inherent in 5‐ or 7‐band satellite images (NOAA, TM), besides the above three, there is an extra basic remote‐sensing characteristic, i.e. the thermal radiation intensity I. This is denoted by thermal bands, i.e. the TM band 6 or NOAA (AVHRR) bands 4 and 5, which are relatively independent and can be used directly, and hence are unnecessary for information extraction or data transformation. Therefore, the data transformation only lies in extracting the L, B and V from original satellite images. Furthermore, we have also found that there are three basic ground‐cover elements on the Earth's surface: i.e. the bare land (in a broad sense), the vegetation and the water body, which, in different proportions, constitute all ground cover. Moreover, there are three basic (primitive) colours on colour image (including colour composite of satellite images): i.e. red, green and blue, which generate all colours on the colour image. Further research has revealed that the three basic remote‐sensing characteristics, the three basic ground‐cover elements and the three basic colours on the composite can conceptually constitute a three‐to‐three corresponding regular triangle scheme. Perhaps a good method of data transformation should make the scheme realistic, i.e. make the three ‘threes’ all correspond to each other. The research presented here has completed this task by regression calculations and selection of specific variables. First, the methodology and transformation equations for TM images are discussed. The transformed L, B and V images have relatively independent and equally distributed information as well as clear and definite physical, mathematical and geographical significance. They can be used effectively for generating high‐quality colour composites, on which the red, green, blue, yellow, pink, cyan and other colours of various kinds are all generated and all pure, saturated, equilibrated, meaning‐definite and close to the colours of ground features in nature. As a result, interpretations and discriminations of ground features can be easier and conducted not only by experience, but also by logic. The L, B and V images can also be used effectively for classification and digital analysis of ground features. With regard to the transformation equations for SPOT, NOAA, IKONOS, Quick Bird, OrbView, FORMOSAT and MSS images and the method application will be dealt with in the second paper.     

An active testing model for tracking roads in satellite images

We present a new approach for tracking roads from satellite images, and thereby illustrate a general computational strategy (“active testing”) for tracking 1D structures and other recognition tasks in computer vision. Our approach is related to recent work in active vision on “where to look next” and motivated by the “divide-and-conquer” strategy of parlour games. We choose “tests” (matched filters for short road segments) one at a time in order to remove as much uncertainty as possible about the “true hypothesis” (road position) given the results of the previous tests. The tests are chosen online based on a statistical model for the joint distribution of tests and hypotheses. The problem of minimizing uncertainty (measured by entropy) is formulated in simple and explicit analytical terms. At each iteration new image data are examined and a new entropy minimization problem is solved (exactly), resulting in a new image location to inspect, and so forth. We report experiments using panchromatic SPOT satellite imagery with a ground resolution of ten meters     

Superpixel-based active contour model for unsupervised change detection from satellite images

This study proposes a superpixel-based active contour model (SACM) for unsupervised change detection from satellite images. The accuracy of change detection produced by the traditional active contour model suffers from the trade-off parameter. The SACM is designed to address this limitation through the incorporation of the spatial and statistical information of superpixels. The proposed method mainly consists of three steps. First, the difference image is created with change vector analysis method from two temporal satellite images. Second, statistical region merging method is applied on the difference image to produce a superpixel map. Finally, SACM is designed based on the superpixel map to detect changes from the difference image. The SACM incorporates spatial and statistical information and retains the accurate shapes and outlines of superpixels. Experiments were conducted on two data sets, namely Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus and SPOT 5, to validate the proposed method. Experimental results show that SACM reduces the effects of the trade-off parameter. The proposed method also increases the robustness of the traditional active contour model for input parameters and improves its effectiveness. In summary, SACM often outperforms some existing methods and provides an effective unsupervised change detection method.     

遗传K-均值初始化的t混合模型医学图像聚类*

针对基于混合模型的图像聚类质量易受混合模型参数初始值的影响,提出一种遗传K-均值初始化的t混合模型医学图像聚类方法。该方法构建一种医学图像的t混合模型,将遗传算法与K-均值算法相结合,实现对医学图像的初始划分,从而获得混合模型的初始参数,有效克服混合模型对参数初始值选择的敏感性问题,用EM算法多次迭代估计t混合模型参数;最后根据得到的混合模型对医学图像进行聚类。实验表明,该方法实现了医学图像较精准的聚类,有较好的稳定性和通用性。