RemNet: Remnant Convolutional Neural Network for Camera Model Identification and Image Manipulation Detection

Camera model identification (CMI) and image manipulation detection are of paramount importance in image forensics as digitally altered images are becoming increasingly commonplace. In this thesis, we propose a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture for performing these two crucial tasks. Our proposed Remnant Convolutional Neural Network (RemNet) is designed with emphasis given on the preprocessing task considered to be inevitable for removing the scene content that heavily obscures the camera model fingerprints and image manipulation artifacts. Unlike the conventional approaches where fixed filters are used for preprocessing, the proposed remnant blocks, when coupled with a classification block and trained end-to-end, learn to suppress the unnecessary image contents dynamically. This helps the classification block extract more robust images forensics features from the remnant of the image. We also propose a variant of the network titled L2-constrained Remnant Convolutional Neural Network (L2-constrained RemNet), where an L2 loss is applied to the output of the preprocessor block, and categorical crossentropy loss is calculated based on the output of the classification block. The whole network is trained in an end-to-end manner by minimizing the total loss, which is a combination of the L2 loss and the categorical crossentropy loss. The whole network, consisting of a preprocessing block and a shallow classification block, when trained on 18 models from the Dresden database, shows 100% accuracy for 16 camera models with an overall accuracy of 98.15% on test images from unseen devices and scenes, outperforming the state-of-the-art deep CNNs used in CMI. Furthermore, the proposed remnant blocks, when cascaded with the existing deep CNNs, e.g., ResNet, DenseNet, boost their performances by a large margin. The proposed approach proves to be very robust in identifying the source camera models, even if the original images are post-processed. It also achieves an overall accuracy of 95.49% on the IEEE Signal Processing Cup 2018 dataset, which indicates its generalizability. Furthermore, we attain an overall accuracy of 99.68% in image manipulation detection, which implies that it can be used as a general-purpose network for image forensic tasks

Efficient Unified Demosaicing for Bayer and Non-Bayer Patterned Image Sensors

As the physical size of recent CMOS image sensors (CIS) gets smaller, the latest mobile cameras are adopting unique non-Bayer color filter array (CFA) patterns (e.g., Quad, Nona, QxQ), which consist of homogeneous color units with adjacent pixels. These non-Bayer sensors are superior to conventional Bayer CFA thanks to their changeable pixel-bin sizes for different light conditions but may introduce visual artifacts during demosaicing due to their inherent pixel pattern structures and sensor hardware characteristics. Previous demosaicing methods have primarily focused on Bayer CFA, necessitating distinct reconstruction methods for non-Bayer patterned CIS with various CFA modes under different lighting conditions. In this work, we propose an efficient unified demosaicing method that can be applied to both conventional Bayer RAW and various non-Bayer CFAs' RAW data in different operation modes. Our Knowledge Learning-based demosaicing model for Adaptive Patterns, namely KLAP, utilizes CFA-adaptive filters for only 1% key filters in the network for each CFA, but still manages to effectively demosaic all the CFAs, yielding comparable performance to the large-scale models. Furthermore, by employing meta-learning during inference (KLAP-M), our model is able to eliminate unknown sensor-generic artifacts in real RAW data, effectively bridging the gap between synthetic images and real sensor RAW. Our KLAP and KLAP-M methods achieved state-of-the-art demosaicing performance in both synthetic and real RAW data of Bayer and non-Bayer CFAs

High-ISO long-exposure image denoising based on quantitative blob characterization

Blob detection and image denoising are fundamental, sometimes related tasks in computer vision. In this paper, we present a computational method to quantitatively measure blob characteristics using normalized unilateral second-order Gaussian kernels. This method suppresses non-blob structures while yielding a quantitative measurement of the position, prominence and scale of blobs, which can facilitate the tasks of blob reconstruction and blob reduction. Subsequently, we propose a denoising scheme to address high-ISO long-exposure noise, which sometimes spatially shows a blob appearance, employing a blob reduction procedure as a cheap preprocessing for conventional denoising methods. We apply the proposed denoising methods to real-world noisy images as well as standard images that are corrupted by real noise. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods over state-of-the-art denoising methods

Sensor Signal and Information Processing II

In the current age of information explosion, newly invented technological sensors and software are now tightly integrated with our everyday lives. Many sensor processing algorithms have incorporated some forms of computational intelligence as part of their core framework in problem solving. These algorithms have the capacity to generalize and discover knowledge for themselves and learn new information whenever unseen data are captured. The primary aim of sensor processing is to develop techniques to interpret, understand, and act on information contained in the data. The interest of this book is in developing intelligent signal processing in order to pave the way for smart sensors. This involves mathematical advancement of nonlinear signal processing theory and its applications that extend far beyond traditional techniques. It bridges the boundary between theory and application, developing novel theoretically inspired methodologies targeting both longstanding and emergent signal processing applications. The topic ranges from phishing detection to integration of terrestrial laser scanning, and from fault diagnosis to bio-inspiring filtering. The book will appeal to established practitioners, along with researchers and students in the emerging field of smart sensors processing