Region-Based Classification of PolSAR Data Using Radial Basis Kernel Functions With Stochastic Distances

Region-based classification of PolSAR data can be effectively performed by seeking for the assignment that minimizes a distance between prototypes and segments. Silva et al (2013) used stochastic distances between complex multivariate Wishart models which, differently from other measures, are computationally tractable. In this work we assess the robustness of such approach with respect to errors in the training stage, and propose an extension that alleviates such problems. We introduce robustness in the process by incorporating a combination of radial basis kernel functions and stochastic distances with Support Vector Machines (SVM). We consider several stochastic distances between Wishart: Bhatacharyya, Kullback-Leibler, Chi-Square, R\'{e}nyi, and Hellinger. We perform two case studies with PolSAR images, both simulated and from actual sensors, and different classification scenarios to compare the performance of Minimum Distance and SVM classification frameworks. With this, we model the situation of imperfect training samples. We show that SVM with the proposed kernel functions achieves better performance with respect to Minimum Distance, at the expense of more computational resources and the need of parameter tuning. Code and data are provided for reproducibility.Comment: Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Digital Eart

Levee Slide Detection using Synthetic Aperture Radar Magnitude and Phase

The objectives of this research are to support the development of state-of-the-art methods using remotely sensed data to detect slides or anomalies in an efficient and cost-effective manner based on the use of SAR technology. Slough or slump slides are slope failures along a levee, which leave areas of the levee vulnerable to seepage and failure during high water events. This work investigates the facility of detecting the slough slides on an earthen levee with different types of polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (polSAR) imagery. The source SAR imagery is fully quad-polarimetric L-band data from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL’s) Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR). The study area encompasses a portion of the levees of the lower Mississippi river, located in Mississippi, United States. The obtained classification results reveal that the polSAR data unsupervised classification with features extraction produces more appropriate results than the unsupervised classification with no features extraction. Obviously, supervised classification methods provide better classification results compared to the unsupervised methods. The anomaly identification is good with these results and was improved with the use of a majority filter. The classification accuracy is further improved with a morphology filter. The classification accuracy is significantly improved with the use of GLCM features. The classification results obtained for all three cases (magnitude, phase, and complex data), with classification accuracies for the complex data being higher, indicate that the use of synthetic aperture radar in combination with remote sensing imagery can effectively detect anomalies or slides on an earthen levee. For all the three samples it consistently shows that the accuracies for the complex data are higher when compared to those from the magnitude and phase data alone. The tests comparing complex data features to magnitude and phase data alone, and full complex data, and use of post-processing filter, all had very high accuracy. Hence we included more test samples to validate and distinguish results

훈련 자료 자동 추출 알고리즘과 기계 학습을 통한 SAR 영상 기반의 선박 탐지

학위논문 (석사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 자연과학대학 지구환경과학부, 2021. 2. 김덕진.Detection and surveillance of vessels are regarded as a crucial application of SAR for their contribution to the preservation of marine resources and the assurance on maritime safety. Introduction of machine learning to vessel detection significantly enhanced the performance and efficiency of the detection, but a substantial majority of studies focused on modifying the object detector algorithm. As the fundamental enhancement of the detection performance would be nearly impossible without accurate training data of vessels, this study implemented AIS information containing real-time information of vessel’s movement in order to propose a robust algorithm which acquires the training data of vessels in an automated manner. As AIS information was irregularly and discretely obtained, the exact target interpolation time for each vessel was precisely determined, followed by the implementation of Kalman filter, which mitigates the measurement error of AIS sensor. In addition, as the velocity of each vessel renders an imprint inside the SAR image named as Doppler frequency shift, it was calibrated by restoring the elliptic satellite orbit from the satellite state vector and estimating the distance between the satellite and the target vessel. From the calibrated position of the AIS sensor inside the corresponding SAR image, training data was directly obtained via internal allocation of the AIS sensor in each vessel. For fishing boats, separate information system named as VPASS was applied for the identical procedure of training data retrieval. Training data of vessels obtained via the automated training data procurement algorithm was evaluated by a conventional object detector, for three detection evaluating parameters: precision, recall and F1 score. All three evaluation parameters from the proposed training data acquisition significantly exceeded that from the manual acquisition. The major difference between two training datasets was demonstrated in the inshore regions and in the vicinity of strong scattering vessels in which land artifacts, ships and the ghost signals derived from them were indiscernible by visual inspection. This study additionally introduced a possibility of resolving the unclassified usage of each vessel by comparing AIS information with the accurate vessel detection results.전천후 지구 관측 위성인 SAR를 통한 선박 탐지는 해양 자원의 확보와 해상 안전 보장에 매우 중요한 역할을 한다. 기계 학습 기법의 도입으로 인해 선박을 비롯한 사물 탐지의 정확도 및 효율성이 향상되었으나, 이와 관련된 다수의 연구는 탐지 알고리즘의 개량에 집중되었다. 그러나, 탐지 정확도의 근본적인 향상은 정밀하게 취득된 대량의 훈련자료 없이는 불가능하기에, 본 연구에서는 선박의 실시간 위치, 속도 정보인 AIS 자료를 이용하여 인공 지능 기반의 선박 탐지 알고리즘에 사용될 훈련자료를 자동적으로 취득하는 알고리즘을 제안하였다. 이를 위해 이산적인 AIS 자료를 SAR 영상의 취득시각에 맞추어 정확하게 보간하고, AIS 센서 자체가 가지는 오차를 최소화하였다. 또한, 이동하는 산란체의 시선 속도로 인해 발생하는 도플러 편이 효과를 보정하기 위해 SAR 위성의 상태 벡터를 이용하여 위성과 산란체 사이의 거리를 정밀하게 계산하였다. 이렇게 계산된 AIS 센서의 영상 내의 위치로부터 선박 내 AIS 센서의 배치를 고려하여 선박 탐지 알고리즘의 훈련자료 형식에 맞추어 훈련자료를 취득하고, 어선에 대한 위치, 속도 정보인 VPASS 자료 역시 유사한 방법으로 가공하여 훈련자료를 취득하였다. AIS 자료로부터 취득한 훈련자료는 기존 방법대로 수동 취득한 훈련자료와 함께 인공 지능 기반 사물 탐지 알고리즘을 통해 정확도를 평가하였다. 그 결과, 제시된 알고리즘으로 취득한 훈련 자료는 수동 취득한 훈련 자료 대비 더 높은 탐지 정확도를 보였으며, 이는 기존의 사물 탐지 알고리즘의 평가 지표인 정밀도, 재현율과 F1 score를 통해 진행되었다. 본 연구에서 제안한 훈련자료 자동 취득 기법으로 얻은 선박에 대한 훈련자료는 특히 기존의 선박 탐지 기법으로는 분별이 어려웠던 항만에 인접한 선박과 산란체 주변의 신호에 대한 정확한 분별 결과를 보였다. 본 연구에서는 이와 함께, 선박 탐지 결과와 해당 지역에 대한 AIS 및 VPASS 자료를 이용하여 선박의 미식별성을 판정할 수 있는 가능성 또한 제시하였다.Chapter 1. Introduction - 1 - 1.1 Research Background - 1 - 1.2 Research Objective - 8 - Chapter 2. Data Acquisition - 10 - 2.1 Acquisition of SAR Image Data - 10 - 2.2 Acquisition of AIS and VPASS Information - 20 - Chapter 3. Methodology on Training Data Procurement - 26 - 3.1 Interpolation of Discrete AIS Data - 29 - 3.1.1 Estimation of Target Interpolation Time for Vessels - 29 - 3.1.2 Application of Kalman Filter to AIS Data - 34 - 3.2 Doppler Frequency Shift Correction - 40 - 3.2.1 Theoretical Basis of Doppler Frequency Shift - 40 - 3.2.2 Mitigation of Doppler Frequency Shift - 48 - 3.3 Retrieval of Training Data of Vessels - 53 - 3.4 Algorithm on Vessel Training Data Acquisition from VPASS Information - 61 - Chapter 4. Methodology on Object Detection Architecture - 66 - Chapter 5. Results - 74 - 5.1 Assessment on Training Data - 74 - 5.2 Assessment on AIS-based Ship Detection - 79 - 5.3 Assessment on VPASS-based Fishing Boat Detection - 91 - Chapter 6. Discussions - 110 - 6.1 Discussion on AIS-Based Ship Detection - 110 - 6.2 Application on Determining Unclassified Vessels - 116 - Chapter 7. Conclusion - 125 - 국문 요약문 - 128 - Bibliography - 130 -Maste

Wetland mapping and monitoring using polarimetric and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and tools

Wetlands are home to a great variety of flora and fauna species and provide several unique environmental functions, such as controlling floods, improving water-quality, supporting wildlife habitat, and shoreline stabilization. Detailed information on spatial distribution of wetland classes is crucial for sustainable management and resource assessment. Furthermore, hydrological monitoring of wetlands is also important for maintaining and preserving the habitat of various plant and animal species. This thesis investigates the existing knowledge and technological challenges associated with wetland mapping and monitoring and evaluates the limitations of the methodologies that have been developed to date. The study also proposes new methods to improve the characterization of these productive ecosystems using advanced remote sensing (RS) tools and data. Specifically, a comprehensive literature review on wetland monitoring using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Interferometric SAR (InSAR) techniques is provided. The application of the InSAR technique for wetland mapping provides the following advantages: (i) the high sensitivity of interferometric coherence to land cover changes is taken into account and (ii) the exploitation of interferometric coherence for wetland classification further enhances the discrimination between similar wetland classes. A statistical analysis of the interferometric coherence and SAR backscattering variation of Canadian wetlands, which are ignored in the literature, is carried out using multi-temporal, multi-frequency, and multi-polarization SAR data. The study also examines the capability of compact polarimetry (CP) SAR data, which will be collected by the upcoming RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) and will constitute the main source of SAR observation in Canada, for wetland mapping. The research in this dissertation proposes a methodology for wetland classification using the synergistic use of intensity, polarimetry, and interferometry features using a novel classification framework. Finally, this work introduces a novel model based on the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for wetland classification that can be trained in an end-to-end scheme and is specifically designed for the classification of wetland complexes using polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) imagery. The results of the proposed methods are promising and will significantly contribute to the ongoing efforts of conservation strategies for wetlands and monitoring changes. The approaches presented in this thesis serve as frameworks, progressing towards an operational methodology for mapping wetland complexes in Canada, as well as other wetlands worldwide with similar ecological characteristics

Evaluación del contenido de información en imágenes de radar de apertura sintética

Tesis (DCI)--FCEFN-UNC, 2019Las imágenes Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) en general, y las Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) en particular, son una importante fuente de información en aplicaciones de Teledetección. Sin embargo, el ruido speckle —que es parte de estas imágenes— les da una apariencia granular que dificulta su interpretación y análisis, disminuyendo la cantidad de información que contienen. La evaluación del Contenido de Información (CI) de las imágenes y cómo se ve afectado por algunos procedimientos habituales se vuelve un desafío interesante en el campo de la teledetección. Muchos trabajos han abordado el problema de la evaluación del CI desde diferentes enfoques. En esta tesis, siguiendo a Narayanan et al. (2002), estudiamos el CI desde el punto de vista de la exactitud de la clasificación, analizando el efecto que la degradación espacial tiene sobre la clasificación. Como en ese trabajo, modelamos la degradación aplicando filtros con diferentes tamaños de ventana, y usamos como datos de entrada (input) para la clasificación las imágenes filtradas. De este modo, a través de imágenes clasificadas verificamos cómo el cambio en las propiedades de los datos de entrada afecta la calidad del resultado. Nuestra atención está enfocada en las etapas de filtrado y clasificación, además de la verificación de los supuestos distribucionales asociados a esas técnicas. Para el filtrado consideramos, además del clásico filtro Local Mean (LM) usado por Narayanan et al. (2002), el Model Based PolSAR (MBPolSAR). Para la clasificación aplicamos, además del clásico Máxima Verosimilitud (MV) usado por Narayanan et al. (2002), Support Vector Machines (SVM) cuyo uso se está extendiendo en el campo de la teledetección. Respecto a los modelos estudiamos los asociados a datos PolSAR multi-look, y algunas distribuciones marginales y bivariadas, unificando notación y presentando sus principales propiedades, y verificamos el ajuste de los datos a esas distribuciones. Para medir la precisión del mapa resultante de la clasificación (CI) usamos, además de la Exactitud de la Clasificación aplicada por Narayanan et al. (2002), otros dos coeficientes derivados de la Matriz de Confusión. Aplicamos la metodología a dos imágenes PolSAR reales. Las medidas de precisión obtenidas son buenas y, a diferencia de Narayanan et al. (2002), aumentan con la degradación. Con esto concluimos que, al menos hasta cierto tamaño de ventana, el filtrado mejora los resultados de clasificación y, con ello, el CI.Fil: Palacio, María Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentina

Oil spill and ship detection using high resolution polarimetric X-band SAR data

Among illegal human activities, marine pollution and target detection are the key concern of Maritime Security and Safety. This thesis deals with oil spill and ship detection using high resolution X-band polarimetric SAR (PolSAR). Polarimetry aims at analysing the polarization state of a wave field, in order to obtain physical information from the observed object. In this dissertation PolSAR techniques are suggested as improvement of the current State-of-the-Art of SAR marine pollution and target detection, by examining in depth Near Real Time suitability

Remote sensing technology applications in forestry and REDD+

Advances in close-range and remote sensing technologies are driving innovations in forest resource assessments and monitoring on varying scales. Data acquired with airborne and spaceborne platforms provide high(er) spatial resolution, more frequent coverage, and more spectral information. Recent developments in ground-based sensors have advanced 3D measurements, low-cost permanent systems, and community-based monitoring of forests. The UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism has advanced the remote sensing community and the development of forest geospatial products that can be used by countries for the international reporting and national forest monitoring. However, an urgent need remains to better understand the options and limitations of remote and close-range sensing techniques in the field of forest degradation and forest change. Therefore, we invite scientists working on remote sensing technologies, close-range sensing, and field data to contribute to this Special Issue. Topics of interest include: (1) novel remote sensing applications that can meet the needs of forest resource information and REDD+ MRV, (2) case studies of applying remote sensing data for REDD+ MRV, (3) timeseries algorithms and methodologies for forest resource assessment on different spatial scales varying from the tree to the national level, and (4) novel close-range sensing applications that can support sustainable forestry and REDD+ MRV. We particularly welcome submissions on data fusion