Quantum-inspired computational imaging

Computational imaging combines measurement and computational methods with the aim of forming images even when the measurement conditions are weak, few in number, or highly indirect. The recent surge in quantum-inspired imaging sensors, together with a new wave of algorithms allowing on-chip, scalable and robust data processing, has induced an increase of activity with notable results in the domain of low-light flux imaging and sensing. We provide an overview of the major challenges encountered in low-illumination (e.g., ultrafast) imaging and how these problems have recently been addressed for imaging applications in extreme conditions. These methods provide examples of the future imaging solutions to be developed, for which the best results are expected to arise from an efficient codesign of the sensors and data analysis tools.Y.A. acknowledges support from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering under the Research Fellowship Scheme (RF201617/16/31). S.McL. acknowledges financial support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/J015180/1). V.G. acknowledges support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) InPho program through U.S. Army Research Office award W911NF-10-1-0404, the U.S. DARPA REVEAL program through contract HR0011-16-C-0030, and U.S. National Science Foundation through grants 1161413 and 1422034. A.H. acknowledges support from U.S. Army Research Office award W911NF-15-1-0479, U.S. Department of the Air Force grant FA8650-15-D-1845, and U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration grant DE-NA0002534. D.F. acknowledges financial support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grants EP/M006514/1 and EP/M01326X/1). (RF201617/16/31 - UK Royal Academy of Engineering; EP/J015180/1 - UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; EP/M006514/1 - UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; EP/M01326X/1 - UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; W911NF-10-1-0404 - U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) InPho program through U.S. Army Research Office; HR0011-16-C-0030 - U.S. DARPA REVEAL program; 1161413 - U.S. National Science Foundation; 1422034 - U.S. National Science Foundation; W911NF-15-1-0479 - U.S. Army Research Office; FA8650-15-D-1845 - U.S. Department of the Air Force; DE-NA0002534 - U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration)Accepted manuscrip

An Adaptive Semi-Parametric and Context-Based Approach to Unsupervised Change Detection in Multitemporal Remote-Sensing Images

In this paper, a novel automatic approach to the unsupervised identification of changes in multitemporal remote-sensing images is proposed. This approach, unlike classical ones, is based on the formulation of the unsupervised change-detection problem in terms of the Bayesian decision theory. In this context, an adaptive semi-parametric technique for the unsupervised estimation of the statistical terms associated with the gray levels of changed and unchanged pixels in a difference image is presented. Such a technique exploits the effectivenesses of two theoretically well-founded estimation procedures: the reduced Parzen estimate (RPE) procedure and the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Then, thanks to the resulting estimates and to a Markov Random Field (MRF) approach used to model the spatial-contextual information contained in the multitemporal images considered, a change detection map is generated. The adaptive semi-parametric nature of the proposed technique allows its application to different kinds of remote-sensing images. Experimental results, obtained on two sets of multitemporal remote-sensing images acquired by two different sensors, confirm the validity of the proposed approach

Simultaneous exoplanet detection and instrument aberration retrieval in multispectral coronagraphic imaging

High-contrast imaging for the detection and characterization of exoplanets relies on the instrument's capability to block out the light of the host star. Some current post-processing methods for calibrating out the residual speckles use information redundancy offered by multispectral imaging but do not use any prior information on the origin of these speckles. We investigate whether additional information on the system and image formation process can be used to more finely exploit the multispectral information. We developed an inversion method in a Bayesian framework that is based on an analytical imaging model to estimate both the speckles and the object map. The model links the instrumental aberrations to the speckle pattern in the image focal plane, distinguishing between aberrations upstream and downstream of the coronagraph. We propose and validate several numerical techniques to handle the difficult minimization problems of phase retrieval and achieve a contrast of 10^6 at 0.2 arcsec from simulated images, in the presence of photon noise. This opens up the the possibility of tests on real data where the ultimate performance may override the current techniques if the instrument has good and stable coronagraphic imaging quality. This paves the way for new astrophysical exploitations or even new designs for future instruments

Use of collateral information to improve LANDSAT classification accuracies

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Accuracy of MAP segmentation with hidden Potts and Markov mesh prior models via Path Constrained Viterbi Training, Iterated Conditional Modes and Graph Cut based algorithms

In this paper, we study statistical classification accuracy of two different Markov field environments for pixelwise image segmentation, considering the labels of the image as hidden states and solving the estimation of such labels as a solution of the MAP equation. The emission distribution is assumed the same in all models, and the difference lays in the Markovian prior hypothesis made over the labeling random field. The a priori labeling knowledge will be modeled with a) a second order anisotropic Markov Mesh and b) a classical isotropic Potts model. Under such models, we will consider three different segmentation procedures, 2D Path Constrained Viterbi training for the Hidden Markov Mesh, a Graph Cut based segmentation for the first order isotropic Potts model, and ICM (Iterated Conditional Modes) for the second order isotropic Potts model. We provide a unified view of all three methods, and investigate goodness of fit for classification, studying the influence of parameter estimation, computational gain, and extent of automation in the statistical measures Overall Accuracy, Relative Improvement and Kappa coefficient, allowing robust and accurate statistical analysis on synthetic and real-life experimental data coming from the field of Dental Diagnostic Radiography. All algorithms, using the learned parameters, generate good segmentations with little interaction when the images have a clear multimodal histogram. Suboptimal learning proves to be frail in the case of non-distinctive modes, which limits the complexity of usable models, and hence the achievable error rate as well. All Matlab code written is provided in a toolbox available for download from our website, following the Reproducible Research Paradigm