Graph-based Data Modeling and Analysis for Data Fusion in Remote Sensing

Hyperspectral imaging provides the capability of increased sensitivity and discrimination over traditional imaging methods by combining standard digital imaging with spectroscopic methods. For each individual pixel in a hyperspectral image (HSI), a continuous spectrum is sampled as the spectral reflectance/radiance signature to facilitate identification of ground cover and surface material. The abundant spectrum knowledge allows all available information from the data to be mined. The superior qualities within hyperspectral imaging allow wide applications such as mineral exploration, agriculture monitoring, and ecological surveillance, etc. The processing of massive high-dimensional HSI datasets is a challenge since many data processing techniques have a computational complexity that grows exponentially with the dimension. Besides, a HSI dataset may contain a limited number of degrees of freedom due to the high correlations between data points and among the spectra. On the other hand, merely taking advantage of the sampled spectrum of individual HSI data point may produce inaccurate results due to the mixed nature of raw HSI data, such as mixed pixels, optical interferences and etc. Fusion strategies are widely adopted in data processing to achieve better performance, especially in the field of classification and clustering. There are mainly three types of fusion strategies, namely low-level data fusion, intermediate-level feature fusion, and high-level decision fusion. Low-level data fusion combines multi-source data that is expected to be complementary or cooperative. Intermediate-level feature fusion aims at selection and combination of features to remove redundant information. Decision level fusion exploits a set of classifiers to provide more accurate results. The fusion strategies have wide applications including HSI data processing. With the fast development of multiple remote sensing modalities, e.g. Very High Resolution (VHR) optical sensors, LiDAR, etc., fusion of multi-source data can in principal produce more detailed information than each single source. On the other hand, besides the abundant spectral information contained in HSI data, features such as texture and shape may be employed to represent data points from a spatial perspective. Furthermore, feature fusion also includes the strategy of removing redundant and noisy features in the dataset. One of the major problems in machine learning and pattern recognition is to develop appropriate representations for complex nonlinear data. In HSI processing, a particular data point is usually described as a vector with coordinates corresponding to the intensities measured in the spectral bands. This vector representation permits the application of linear and nonlinear transformations with linear algebra to find an alternative representation of the data. More generally, HSI is multi-dimensional in nature and the vector representation may lose the contextual correlations. Tensor representation provides a more sophisticated modeling technique and a higher-order generalization to linear subspace analysis. In graph theory, data points can be generalized as nodes with connectivities measured from the proximity of a local neighborhood. The graph-based framework efficiently characterizes the relationships among the data and allows for convenient mathematical manipulation in many applications, such as data clustering, feature extraction, feature selection and data alignment. In this thesis, graph-based approaches applied in the field of multi-source feature and data fusion in remote sensing area are explored. We will mainly investigate the fusion of spatial, spectral and LiDAR information with linear and multilinear algebra under graph-based framework for data clustering and classification problems

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

Multi-Classifiers And Decision Fusion For Robust Statistical Pattern Recognition With Applications To Hyperspectral Classification

In this dissertation, a multi-classifier, decision fusion framework is proposed for robust classification of high dimensional data in small-sample-size conditions. Such datasets present two key challenges. (1) The high dimensional feature spaces compromise the classifiers’ generalization ability in that the classifier tends to overit decision boundaries to the training data. This phenomenon is commonly known as the Hughes phenomenon in the pattern classification community. (2) The small-sample-size of the training data results in ill-conditioned estimates of its statistics. Most classifiers rely on accurate estimation of these statistics for modeling training data and labeling test data, and hence ill-conditioned statistical estimates result in poorer classification performance. This dissertation tests the efficacy of the proposed algorithms to classify primarily remotely sensed hyperspectral data and secondarily diagnostic digital mammograms, since these applications naturally result in very high dimensional feature spaces and often do not have sufficiently large training datasets to support the dimensionality of the feature space. Conventional approaches, such as Stepwise LDA (S-LDA) are sub-optimal, in that they utilize a small subset of the rich spectral information provided by hyperspectral data for classification. In contrast, the approach proposed in this dissertation utilizes the entire high dimensional feature space for classification by identifying a suitable partition of this space, employing a bank-of-classifiers to perform “local” classification over this partition, and then merging these local decisions using an appropriate decision fusion mechanism. Adaptive classifier weight assignment and nonlinear pre-processing (in kernel induced spaces) are also proposed within this framework to improve its robustness over a wide range of fidelity conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework results in significant improvements in classification accuracies (as high as a 12% increase) over conventional approaches

Multi-Classifiers And Decision Fusion For Robust Statistical Pattern Recognition With Applications To Hyperspectral Classification

In this dissertation, a multi-classifier, decision fusion framework is proposed for robust classification of high dimensional data in small-sample-size conditions. Such datasets present two key challenges. (1) The high dimensional feature spaces compromise the classifiers’ generalization ability in that the classifier tends to overit decision boundaries to the training data. This phenomenon is commonly known as the Hughes phenomenon in the pattern classification community. (2) The small-sample-size of the training data results in ill-conditioned estimates of its statistics. Most classifiers rely on accurate estimation of these statistics for modeling training data and labeling test data, and hence ill-conditioned statistical estimates result in poorer classification performance. This dissertation tests the efficacy of the proposed algorithms to classify primarily remotely sensed hyperspectral data and secondarily diagnostic digital mammograms, since these applications naturally result in very high dimensional feature spaces and often do not have sufficiently large training datasets to support the dimensionality of the feature space. Conventional approaches, such as Stepwise LDA (S-LDA) are sub-optimal, in that they utilize a small subset of the rich spectral information provided by hyperspectral data for classification. In contrast, the approach proposed in this dissertation utilizes the entire high dimensional feature space for classification by identifying a suitable partition of this space, employing a bank-of-classifiers to perform “local” classification over this partition, and then merging these local decisions using an appropriate decision fusion mechanism. Adaptive classifier weight assignment and nonlinear pre-processing (in kernel induced spaces) are also proposed within this framework to improve its robustness over a wide range of fidelity conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework results in significant improvements in classification accuracies (as high as a 12% increase) over conventional approaches

Incorporating Multiresolution Analysis With Multiclassifiers And Decision Fusion For Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

The ongoing development and increased affordability of hyperspectral sensors are increasing their utilization in a variety of applications, such as agricultural monitoring and decision making. Hyperspectral Automated Target Recognition (ATR) systems typically rely heavily on dimensionality reduction methods, and particularly intelligent reduction methods referred to as feature extraction techniques. This dissertation reports on the development, implementation, and testing of new hyperspectral analysis techniques for ATR systems, including their use in agricultural applications where ground truthed observations available for training the ATR system are typically very limited. This dissertation reports the design of effective methods for grouping and down-selecting Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients and the design of automated Wavelet Packet Decomposition (WPD) filter tree pruning methods for use within the framework of a Multiclassifiers and Decision Fusion (MCDF) ATR system. The efficacy of the DWT MCDF and WPD MCDF systems are compared to existing ATR methods commonly used in hyperspectral remote sensing applications. The newly developed methods’ sensitivity to operating conditions, such as mother wavelet selection, decomposition level, and quantity and quality of available training data are also investigated. The newly developed ATR systems are applied to the problem of hyperspectral remote sensing of agricultural food crop contaminations either by airborne chemical application, specifically Glufosinate herbicide at varying concentrations applied to corn crops, or by biological infestation, specifically soybean rust disease in soybean crops. The DWT MCDF and WPD MCDF methods significantly outperform conventional hyperspectral ATR methods. For example, when detecting and classifying varying levels of soybean rust infestation, stepwise linear discriminant analysis, results in accuracies of approximately 30%-40%, but WPD MCDF methods result in accuracies of approximately 70%-80%