Fast wavelet-based pansharpening of multi-spectral images

Remote Sensing systems enhance the spatial quality of low-resolution Multi-Spectral (MS) images using information from Pan-chromatic (PAN) images under the pansharpening framework. Most decimated multi-resolution pansharpening approaches upsample the low-resolution MS image to match the resolution of the PAN image. Consequently, a multi-level wavelet decomposition is performed, where the edge information from the PAN image is injected in the MS image. In this paper, the authors propose a pansharpening framework that eliminates the need of upsampling of the MS image, using a B-Spline biorthogonal wavelet decomposition scheme. The proposed method features similar performance to the state-of-the-art pansharpening methods without the extra computational cost induced by upsampling

Fast wavelet-based pansharpening of multi-spectral images

Remote Sensing systems enhance the spatial quality of low-resolution Multi-Spectral (MS) images using information from Pan-chromatic (PAN) images under the pansharpening framework. Most decimated multi-resolution pansharpening approaches upsample the low-resolution MS image to match the resolution of the PAN image. Consequently, a multi-level wavelet decomposition is performed, where the edge information from the PAN image is injected in the MS image. In this paper, the authors propose a pansharpening framework that eliminates the need of upsampling of the MS image, using a B-Spline biorthogonal wavelet decomposition scheme. The proposed method features similar performance to the state-of-the-art pansharpening methods without the extra computational cost induced by upsampling

Toward reduction of artifacts in fused images

Most fusion satellite image methodologies at pixel-level introduce false spatial details, i.e.artifacts, in the resulting fusedimages. In many cases, these artifacts appears because image fusion methods do not consider the differences in roughness or textural characteristics between different land covers. They only consider the digital values associated with single pixels. This effect increases as the spatial resolution image increases. To minimize this problem, we propose a new paradigm based on local measurements of the fractal dimension (FD). Fractal dimension maps (FDMs) are generated for each of the source images (panchromatic and each band of the multi-spectral images) with the box-counting algorithm and by applying a windowing process. The average of source image FDMs, previously indexed between 0 and 1, has been used for discrimination of different land covers present in satellite images. This paradigm has been applied through the fusion methodology based on the discrete wavelet transform (DWT), using the à trous algorithm (WAT). Two different scenes registered by optical sensors on board FORMOSAT-2 and IKONOS satellites were used to study the behaviour of the proposed methodology. The implementation of this approach, using the WAT method, allows adapting the fusion process to the roughness and shape of the regions present in the image to be fused. This improves the quality of the fusedimages and their classification results when compared with the original WAT metho

DATA FUSION OF PANCHROMATIC AND MULTISPECTRAL IMAGES BASED ON OPTIMIZATION USING LAGRANGE MULTIPLIER

The remote sensing satellites provide complementary images of different resolutions which need to be integrated using the techniques of image fusion. In this paper, image fusion using the IKONOS satellite data is discussed. Unlike other models which are based on sensor model, our approach is data centric including the effects of the sensor as well as the reflectance characteristics of the imaged object. A linear relationship is built between the panchromatic channel and the multispectral channel data. We then formulate a minimisation function in terms of Lagrange multiplier to optimally maximise the spectral consistency and minimise the error in variance. The variances of the downsampled multispectral channels are observed and compared with the original multispectral data. A chi-square goodness of fit test is performed to evaluate the data computed based on our algorithm. Simulation results are presented using the IKONOS 1m resolution panchromatic and 4 m resolution multispectral data

A hybrid pan-sharpening approach using maximum local extrema

Mixing or combining different elements for getting enhanced version, is practiced across various areas in real life. Pan-sharpening is a similar technique used in the digital world; a process to combine two images into a fused image that comprises more detailed information. Images referred herein are Panchromatic (PAN) and Multispectral (MS) images. This paper presents a pansharpening algorithm which integrates multispectral and panchromatic images to generate an improved multispectral image. This technique merges the Discrete wavelet transform (WT) and Intensity-Hue-Saturation (IHS) through separate fusing criterion for choosing an approximate and detail sub-images. Whereas the maximal local extrema are used for merging detail sub-images and finally merged high-resolution image is reconstructed through inverse transform of wavelet and IHS. The proposed fusion approach enhances the superiority of the resultant fused image is demonstrated by quality measures like CORR, RMSE, PFE, SSIM, SNR and PSNR with the help of satellite Worldview-II images. The proposed algorithm is correlated with the other fusion techniques through empirical outcomes proves the superiority of the final merged image in terms of resolutions than the others

A Pan-Sharpening Method Based on Evolutionary Optimization and IHS Transformation

In many remote sensing applications, users usually prefer a multispectral image with both high spectral and high spatial information. This high quality image could be obtained by pan-sharpening techniques which fuse a high resolution panchromatic (PAN) image and a low resolution multispectral (MS) image. In this paper, we propose a new technique to do so based on the adaptive intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transformation model and evolutionary optimization. The basic idea is to reconstruct the target image through a parameterized adaptive IHS transformation. An optimization objective is thus introduced by considering the relations between the fused image and the original PAN and MS images. The control parameters are optimized by an evolutionary algorithm. Experimental results show that our new approach is practical and performs much better than some state-of-the-art techniques according to the performance metrics

Enhancing spatial resolution of remotely sensed data for mapping freshwater environments

Freshwater environments are important for ecosystem services and biodiversity. These environments are subject to many natural and anthropogenic changes, which influence their quality; therefore, regular monitoring is required for their effective management. High biotic heterogeneity, elongated land/water interaction zones, and logistic difficulties with access make field based monitoring on a large scale expensive, inconsistent and often impractical. Remote sensing (RS) is an established mapping tool that overcomes these barriers. However, complex and heterogeneous vegetation and spectral variability due to water make freshwater environments challenging to map using remote sensing technology. Satellite images available for New Zealand were reviewed, in terms of cost, and spectral and spatial resolution. Particularly promising image data sets for freshwater mapping include the QuickBird and SPOT-5. However, for mapping freshwater environments a combination of images is required to obtain high spatial, spectral, radiometric, and temporal resolution. Data fusion (DF) is a framework of data processing tools and algorithms that combines images to improve spectral and spatial qualities. A range of DF techniques were reviewed and tested for performance using panchromatic and multispectral QB images of a semi-aquatic environment, on the southern shores of Lake Taupo, New Zealand. In order to discuss the mechanics of different DF techniques a classification consisting of three groups was used - (i) spatially-centric (ii) spectrally-centric and (iii) hybrid. Subtract resolution merge (SRM) is a hybrid technique and this research demonstrated that for a semi aquatic QuickBird image it out performed Brovey transformation (BT), principal component substitution (PCS), local mean and variance matching (LMVM), and optimised high pass filter addition (OHPFA). However some limitations were identified with SRM, which included the requirement for predetermined band weights, and the over-representation of the spatial edges in the NIR bands due to their high spectral variance. This research developed three modifications to the SRM technique that addressed these limitations. These were tested on QuickBird (QB), SPOT-5, and Vexcel aerial digital images, as well as a scanned coloured aerial photograph. A visual qualitative assessment and a range of spectral and spatial quantitative metrics were used to evaluate these modifications. These included spectral correlation and root mean squared error (RMSE), Sobel filter based spatial edges RMSE, and unsupervised classification. The first modification addressed the issue of predetermined spectral weights and explored two alternative regression methods (Least Absolute Deviation, and Ordinary Least Squares) to derive image-specific band weights for use in SRM. Both methods were found equally effective; however, OLS was preferred as it was more efficient in processing band weights compared to LAD. The second modification used a pixel block averaging function on high resolution panchromatic images to derive spatial edges for data fusion. This eliminated the need for spectral band weights, minimised spectral infidelity, and enabled the fusion of multi-platform data. The third modification addressed the issue of over-represented spatial edges by introducing a sophisticated contrast and luminance index to develop a new normalising function. This improved the spatial representation of the NIR band, which is particularly important for mapping vegetation. A combination of the second and third modification of SRM was effective in simultaneously minimising the overall spectral infidelity and undesired spatial errors for the NIR band of the fused image. This new method has been labelled Contrast and Luminance Normalised (CLN) data fusion, and has been demonstrated to make a significant contribution in fusing multi-platform, multi-sensor, multi-resolution, and multi-temporal data. This contributes to improvements in the classification and monitoring of fresh water environments using remote sensing

Evaluation of Pan-Sharpening Techniques Using Lagrange Optimization

Earth’s observation satellites, such as IKONOS, provide simultaneously multispectral and panchromatic images. A multispectral image comes with a lower spatial and higher spectral resolution in contrast to a panchromatic image which usually has a high spatial and a low spectral resolution. Pan-sharpening represents a fusion of these two complementary images to provide an output image that has both spatial and spectral high resolutions. The objective of this paper is to propose a new method of pan-sharpening based on pixel-level image manipulation and to compare it with several state-of-art pansharpening methods using different evaluation criteria.  The paper presents an image fusion method based on pixel-level optimization using the Lagrange multiplier. Two cases are discussed: (a) the maximization of spectral consistency and (b) the minimization of the variance difference between the original data and the computed data. The paper compares the results of the proposed method with several state-of-the-art pan-sharpening methods. The performance of the pan-sharpening methods is evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using evaluation criteria, such as the Chi-square test, RMSE, SNR, SD, ERGAS, and RASE. Overall, the proposed method is shown to outperform all the existing methods