Alphabet-based Multisensory Data Fusion and Classification using Factor Graphs

The way of multisensory data integration is a crucial step of any data fusion method. Different physical types of sensors (optic, thermal, acoustic, or radar) with different resolutions, and different types of GIS digital data (elevation, vector map) require a proper method for data integration. Incommensurability of the data may not allow to use conventional statistical methods for fusion and processing of the data. A correct and established way of multisensory data integration is required to deal with such incommensurable data as the employment of an inappropriate methodology may lead to errors in the fusion process. To perform a proper multisensory data fusion several strategies were developed (Bayesian, linear (log linear) opinion pool, neural networks, fuzzy logic approaches). Employment of these approaches is motivated by weighted consensus theory, which lead to fusion processes that are correctly performed for the variety of data properties

Um arcabouço para seleção e fusão de classificadores de padrão

Orientadores: Ricardo da Silva Torres, Anderson RochaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: O crescente aumento de dados visuais, seja pelo uso de inúmeras câmeras de vídeo monitoramento disponíveis ou pela popularização de dispositivos móveis que permitem pessoas criar, editar e compartilhar suas próprias imagens/vídeos, tem contribuído enormemente para a chamada ''big data revolution". Esta grande quantidade de dados visuais dá origem a uma caixa de Pandora de novos problemas de classificação visuais nunca antes imaginados. Tarefas de classificação de imagens e vídeos foram inseridos em diferentes e complexas aplicações e o uso de soluções baseadas em aprendizagem de máquina tornou-se mais popular para diversas aplicações. Entretanto, por outro lado, não existe uma ''bala de prata" que resolva todos os problemas, ou seja, não é possível caracterizar todas as imagens de diferentes domínios com o mesmo método de descrição e nem utilizar o mesmo método de aprendizagem para alcançar bons resultados em qualquer tipo de aplicação. Nesta tese, propomos um arcabouço para seleção e fusão de classificadores. Nosso método busca combinar métodos de caracterização de imagem e aprendizagem por meio de uma abordagem meta-aprendizagem que avalia quais métodos contribuem melhor para solução de um determinado problema. O arcabouço utiliza três diferentes estratégias de seleção de classificadores para apontar o menos correlacionados e eficazes, por meio de análises de medidas de diversidade. Os experimentos mostram que as abordagens propostas produzem resultados comparáveis aos famosos métodos da literatura para diferentes aplicações, utilizando menos classificadores e não sofrendo com problemas que afetam outras técnicas como a maldição da dimensionalidade e normalização. Além disso, a nossa abordagem é capaz de alcançar resultados eficazes de classificação usando conjuntos de treinamento muito reduzidosAbstract: The frequent growth of visual data, either by countless available monitoring video cameras or the popularization of mobile devices that allow each person to create, edit, and share their own images and videos have contributed enormously to the so called ''big-data revolution''. This shear amount of visual data gives rise to a Pandora box of new visual classification problems never imagined before. Image and video classification tasks have been inserted in different and complex applications and the use of machine learning-based solutions has become the most popular approach to several applications. Notwithstanding, there is no silver bullet that solves all the problems, i.e., it is not possible to characterize all images of different domains with the same description method nor is it possible to use the same learning method to achieve good results in any kind of application. In this thesis, we aim at proposing a framework for classifier selection and fusion. Our method seeks to combine image characterization and learning methods by means of a meta-learning approach responsible for assessing which methods contribute more towards the solution of a given problem. The framework uses three different strategies of classifier selection which pinpoints the less correlated, yet effective, classifiers through a series of diversity measure analysis. The experiments show that the proposed approaches yield comparable results to well-known algorithms from the literature on many different applications but using less learning and description methods as well as not incurring in the curse of dimensionality and normalization problems common to some fusion techniques. Furthermore, our approach is able to achieve effective classification results using very reduced training setsDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

Big Earth Data and Machine Learning for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture

Big streams of Earth images from satellites or other platforms (e.g., drones and mobile phones) are becoming increasingly available at low or no cost and with enhanced spatial and temporal resolution. This thesis recognizes the unprecedented opportunities offered by the high quality and open access Earth observation data of our times and introduces novel machine learning and big data methods to properly exploit them towards developing applications for sustainable and resilient agriculture. The thesis addresses three distinct thematic areas, i.e., the monitoring of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the monitoring of food security and applications for smart and resilient agriculture. The methodological innovations of the developments related to the three thematic areas address the following issues: i) the processing of big Earth Observation (EO) data, ii) the scarcity of annotated data for machine learning model training and iii) the gap between machine learning outputs and actionable advice. This thesis demonstrated how big data technologies such as data cubes, distributed learning, linked open data and semantic enrichment can be used to exploit the data deluge and extract knowledge to address real user needs. Furthermore, this thesis argues for the importance of semi-supervised and unsupervised machine learning models that circumvent the ever-present challenge of scarce annotations and thus allow for model generalization in space and time. Specifically, it is shown how merely few ground truth data are needed to generate high quality crop type maps and crop phenology estimations. Finally, this thesis argues there is considerable distance in value between model inferences and decision making in real-world scenarios and thereby showcases the power of causal and interpretable machine learning in bridging this gap.Comment: Phd thesi

Prediction of Housing Price and Forest Cover Using Mosaics with Uncertain Satellite Imagery

The growing world is more expensive to estimate land use, road length, and forest cover using a plant-scaled ground monitoring system. Satellite imaging contains a significant amount of detailed uncertain information. Combining this with machine learning aids in the organization of these data and the estimation of each variable separately. The resources necessary to deploy Machine learning technologies for Remote sensing images, on the other hand, restrict their reach ability and application. Based on satellite observations which are notably underutilised in impoverished nations, while practical competence to implement SIML might be restricted. Encoded forms of images are shared across tasks, and they will be calculated and sent to an infinite number of researchers who can achieve top-tier SIML performance by training a regression analysis onto the actual data. By separating the duties, the proposed SIML solution, MOSAIKS, shapes SIML approachable and global. A Featurization stage turns remote sensing data into concise vector representations, and a regression step makes it possible to learn the correlations which are specific to its particular task which link the obtained characteristics to the set of uncertain data