Context guided belief propagation for remote sensing image classification.

We propose a context guided belief propagation (BP) algorithm to perform high spatial resolution multispectral imagery (HSRMI) classification efficiently utilizing superpixel representation. One important characteristic of HSRMI is that different land cover objects possess a similar spectral property. This property is exploited to speed up the standard BP (SBP) in the classification process. Specifically, we leverage this property of HSRMI as context information to guide messages passing in SBP. Furthermore, the spectral and structural features extracted at the superpixel level are fed into a Markov random field framework to address the challenge of low interclass variation in HSRMI classification by minimizing the discrete energy through context guided BP (CBP). Experiments show that the proposed CBP is significantly faster than the SBP while retaining similar performance as compared with SBP. Compared to the baseline methods, higher classification accuracy is achieved by the proposed CBP when the context information is used with both spectral and structural features

Aprendizado ativo baseado em atributos contextuais de superpixel para classificação de imagem de sensoriamento remoto

Orientadores: Alexandre Xavier Falcão, Jefersson Alex dos SantosDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Recentemente, técnicas de aprendizado de máquina têm sido propostas para criar mapas temáticos a partir de imagens de sensoriamento remoto. Estas técnicas podem ser divididas em métodos de classificação baseados em pixels ou regiões. Este trabalho concentra-se na segunda abordagem, uma vez que estamos interessados em imagens com milhões de pixels e a segmentação da imagem em regiões (superpixels) pode reduzir consideravelmente o número de amostras a serem classificadas. Porém, mesmo utilizando superpixels, o número de amostras ainda é grande para anotá-las manualmente e treinar o classificador. As técnicas de aprendizado ativo propostas resolvem este problema começando pela seleção de um conjunto pequeno de amostras selecionadas aleatoriamente. Tais amostras são anotadas manualmente e utilizadas para treinar a primeira instância do classificador. Em cada iteração do ciclo de aprendizagem, o classificador atribui rótulos e seleciona as amostras mais informativas para a correção/confirmação pelo usuário, aumentando o tamanho do conjunto de treinamento. A instância do classificador é melhorada no final de cada iteração pelo seu treinamento e utilizada na iteração seguinte até que o usuário esteja satisfeito com o classificador. Observamos que a maior parte dos métodos reclassificam o conjunto inteiro de dados em cada iteração do ciclo de aprendizagem, tornando este processo inviável para interação com o usuário. Portanto, enderaçamos dois problemas importantes em classificação baseada em regiões de imagens de sensoriamento remoto: (a) a descrição efetiva de superpixels e (b) a redução do tempo requerido para seleção de amostras em aprendizado ativo. Primeiro, propusemos um descritor contextual de superpixels baseado na técnica de sacola de palavras, que melhora o resultado de descritores de cor e textura amplamente utilizados. Posteriormente, propusemos um método supervisionado de redução do conjunto de dados que é baseado em um método do estado da arte em aprendizado ativo chamado Multi-Class Level Uncertainty (MCLU). Nosso método mostrou-se tão eficaz quanto o MCLU e ao mesmo tempo consideravelmente mais eficiente. Adicionalmente, melhoramos seu desempenho por meio da aplicação de um processo de relaxação no mapa de classificação, utilizando Campos Aleatórios de MarkovAbstract: In recent years, machine learning techniques have been proposed to create classification maps from remote sensing images. These techniques can be divided into pixel- and region-based image classification methods. This work concentrates on the second approach, since we are interested in images with millions of pixels and the segmentation of the image into regions (superpixels) can considerably reduce the number of samples for classification. However, even using superpixels the number of samples is still large for manual annotation of samples to train the classifier. Active learning techniques have been proposed to address the problem by starting from a small set of randomly selected samples, which are manually labeled and used to train a first instance of the classifier. At each learning iteration, the classifier assigns labels and selects the most informative samples for user correction/confirmation, increasing the size of the training set. An improved instance of the classifier is created by training, after each iteration, and used in the next iteration until the user is satisfied with the classifier. We observed that most methods reclassify the entire pool of unlabeled samples at every learning iteration, making the process unfeasible for user interaction. Therefore, we address two important problems in region-based classification of remote sensing images: (a) the effective superpixel description and (b) the reduction of the time required for sample selection in active learning. First, we propose a contextual superpixel descriptor, based on bag of visual words, that outperforms widely used color and texture descriptors. Second, we propose a supervised method for dataset reduction that is based on a state-of-art active learning technique, called Multi-Class Level Uncertainty (MCLU). Our method has shown to be as effective as MCLU, while being considerably more efficient. Additionally, we further improve its performance by applying a relaxation process on the classification map by using Markov Random FieldsMestradoCiência da ComputaçãoMestre em Ciência da Computaçã

Illumination-invariant vegetation detection for a vision sensor-based agricultural applications

In this paper, we propose a novel method, illumination-invariant vegetation detection (IVD), to improve many aspects of agriculture for vision-based autonomous machines or robots. The proposed method derives new color feature functions from simultaneously modeling the spectral properties of the color camera and scene illumination. An experiment in which an image sample dataset was acquired under nature illumination, including various intensities, weather conditions, shadows and reflections, was performed. The results show that the proposed method (IVD) yields the highest performance with the lowest error and standard deviation and is superior to six typical methods. Our method has multiple strengths, including computational simplicity and uniformly high-accuracy image segmentation

Fuzzy superpixels for polarimetric SAR images classification

Superpixels technique has drawn much attention in computer vision applications. Each superpixels algorithm has its own advantages. Selecting a more appropriate superpixels algorithm for a specific application can improve the performance of the application. In the last few years, superpixels are widely used in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) image classification. However, no superpixel algorithm is especially designed for image classification. It is believed that both mixed superpixels and pure superpixels exist in an image.Nevertheless, mixed superpixels have negative effects on classification accuracy. Thus, it is necessary to generate superpixels containing as few mixed superpixels as possible for image classification. In this paper, first, a novel superpixels concept, named fuzzy superpixels, is proposed for reducing the generation of mixed superpixels.In fuzzy superpixels ,not al lpixels are assigned to a corresponding superpixel. We would rather ignore the pixels than assigning them to improper superpixels. Second,a new algorithm, named FuzzyS(FS),is proposed to generate fuzzy superpixels for PolSAR image classification. Three PolSAR images are used to verify the effect of the proposed FS algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed FS algorithm over several state-of-the-art superpixels algorithms

DISC: Deep Image Saliency Computing via Progressive Representation Learning

Salient object detection increasingly receives attention as an important component or step in several pattern recognition and image processing tasks. Although a variety of powerful saliency models have been intensively proposed, they usually involve heavy feature (or model) engineering based on priors (or assumptions) about the properties of objects and backgrounds. Inspired by the effectiveness of recently developed feature learning, we provide a novel Deep Image Saliency Computing (DISC) framework for fine-grained image saliency computing. In particular, we model the image saliency from both the coarse- and fine-level observations, and utilize the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to learn the saliency representation in a progressive manner. Specifically, our saliency model is built upon two stacked CNNs. The first CNN generates a coarse-level saliency map by taking the overall image as the input, roughly identifying saliency regions in the global context. Furthermore, we integrate superpixel-based local context information in the first CNN to refine the coarse-level saliency map. Guided by the coarse saliency map, the second CNN focuses on the local context to produce fine-grained and accurate saliency map while preserving object details. For a testing image, the two CNNs collaboratively conduct the saliency computing in one shot. Our DISC framework is capable of uniformly highlighting the objects-of-interest from complex background while preserving well object details. Extensive experiments on several standard benchmarks suggest that DISC outperforms other state-of-the-art methods and it also generalizes well across datasets without additional training. The executable version of DISC is available online: http://vision.sysu.edu.cn/projects/DISC.Comment: This manuscript is the accepted version for IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (T-NNLS), 201

A REVIEW ON MULTIPLE-FEATURE-BASED ADAPTIVE SPARSE REPRESENTATION (MFASR) AND OTHER CLASSIFICATION TYPES

A new technique Multiple-feature-based adaptive sparse representation (MFASR) has been demonstrated for Hyperspectral Images (HSI's) classification. This method involves mainly in four steps at the various stages. The spectral and spatial information reflected from the original Hyperspectral Images with four various features. A shape adaptive (SA) spatial region is obtained in each pixel region at the second step. The algorithm namely sparse representation has applied to get the coefficients of sparse for each shape adaptive region in the form of matrix with multiple features. For each test pixel, the class label is determined with the help of obtained coefficients. The performances of MFASR have much better classification results than other classifiers in the terms of quantitative and qualitative percentage of results. This MFASR will make benefit of strong correlations that are obtained from different extracted features and this make use of effective features and effective adaptive sparse representation. Thus, the very high classification performance was achieved through this MFASR technique

Lidar-based Obstacle Detection and Recognition for Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles

Today, agricultural vehicles are available that can drive autonomously and follow exact route plans more precisely than human operators. Combined with advancements in precision agriculture, autonomous agricultural robots can reduce manual labor, improve workflow, and optimize yield. However, as of today, human operators are still required for monitoring the environment and acting upon potential obstacles in front of the vehicle. To eliminate this need, safety must be ensured by accurate and reliable obstacle detection and avoidance systems.In this thesis, lidar-based obstacle detection and recognition in agricultural environments has been investigated. A rotating multi-beam lidar generating 3D point clouds was used for point-wise classification of agricultural scenes, while multi-modal fusion with cameras and radar was used to increase performance and robustness. Two research perception platforms were presented and used for data acquisition. The proposed methods were all evaluated on recorded datasets that represented a wide range of realistic agricultural environments and included both static and dynamic obstacles.For 3D point cloud classification, two methods were proposed for handling density variations during feature extraction. One method outperformed a frequently used generic 3D feature descriptor, whereas the other method showed promising preliminary results using deep learning on 2D range images. For multi-modal fusion, four methods were proposed for combining lidar with color camera, thermal camera, and radar. Gradual improvements in classification accuracy were seen, as spatial, temporal, and multi-modal relationships were introduced in the models. Finally, occupancy grid mapping was used to fuse and map detections globally, and runtime obstacle detection was applied on mapped detections along the vehicle path, thus simulating an actual traversal.The proposed methods serve as a first step towards full autonomy for agricultural vehicles. The study has thus shown that recent advancements in autonomous driving can be transferred to the agricultural domain, when accurate distinctions are made between obstacles and processable vegetation. Future research in the domain has further been facilitated with the release of the multi-modal obstacle dataset, FieldSAFE