Do deep features generalize from everyday objects to remote sensing and aerial scenes domains?

In this paper, we evaluate the generalization power of deep features (ConvNets) in two new scenarios: aerial and remote sensing image classification. We evaluate experimentally ConvNets trained for recognizing everyday objects for the classification of aerial and remote sensing images. ConvNets obtained the best results for aerial images, while for remote sensing, they performed well but were outperformed by low-level color descriptors, such as BIC. We also present a correlation analysis, showing the potential for combining/fusing different ConvNets with other descriptors or even for combining multiple ConvNets. A preliminary set of experiments fusing ConvNets obtains state-of-the-art results for the well-known UCMerced dataset

Security and forensics exploration of learning-based image coding

Advances in media compression indicate significant potential to drive future media coding standards, e.g., Joint Photographic Experts Group's learning-based image coding technologies (JPEG AI) and Joint Video Experts Team's (JVET) deep neural networks (DNN) based video coding. These codecs in fact represent a new type of media format. As a dire consequence, traditional media security and forensic techniques will no longer be of use. This paper proposes an initial study on the effectiveness of traditional watermarking on two state-of-the-art learning based image coding. Results indicate that traditional watermarking methods are no longer effective. We also examine the forensic trails of various DNN architectures in the learning based codecs by proposing a residual noise based source identification algorithm that achieved 79% accuracy

GMM-IL: Image Classification Using Incrementally Learnt, Independent Probabilistic Models for Small Sample Sizes

When deep-learning classifiers try to learn new classes through supervised learning, they exhibit catastrophic forgetting issues. In this paper we propose the Gaussian Mixture Model - Incremental Learner (GMM-IL), a novel two-stage architecture that couples unsupervised visual feature learning with supervised probabilistic models to represent each class. The key novelty of GMM-IL is that each class is learnt independently of the other classes. New classes can be incrementally learnt using a small set of annotated images with no requirement to relearn data from existing classes. This enables the incremental addition of classes to a model, that can be indexed by visual features and reasoned over based on perception. Using Gaussian Mixture Models to represent the independent classes, we outperform a benchmark of an equivalent network with a Softmax head, obtaining increased accuracy for sample sizes smaller than 12 and increased weighted F1 score for 3 imbalanced class profiles in that sample range. This novel method enables new classes to be added to a system with only access to a few annotated images of the new class

Security and Forensics Exploration of Learning-based Image Coding

Advances in media compression indicate significant potential to drive future media coding standards, e.g., Joint Photographic Experts Group's learning-based image coding technologies (JPEG-AI) and MJoint Video Experts Team's (JVET) deep neural networks (DNN) based video coding. These codecs in fact represent a new type of media format. As a dire consequence, traditional media security and forensic techniques will no longer be of use. This paper proposes an initial study on the effectiveness of traditional watermarking on two state-of-the-art learning based image coding. Results indicate that traditional watermarking methods are no longer effective. We also examine the forensic trails of various DNN architectures in the learning based codecs by proposing a residual noise based source identification algorithm that achieved 79% accuracy

Facing the Void: Overcoming Missing Data in Multi-View Imagery

In some scenarios, a single input image may not be enough to allow the object classification. In those cases, it is crucial to explore the complementary information extracted from images presenting the same object from multiple perspectives (or views) in order to enhance the general scene understanding and, consequently, increase the performance. However, this task, commonly called multi-view image classification, has a major challenge: missing data. In this paper, we propose a novel technique for multi-view image classification robust to this problem. The proposed method, based on state-of-the-art deep learning-based approaches and metric learning, can be easily adapted and exploited in other applications and domains. A systematic evaluation of the proposed algorithm was conducted using two multi-view aerial-ground datasets with very distinct properties. Results show that the proposed algorithm provides improvements in multi-view image classification accuracy when compared to state-of-the-art methods. The code of the proposed approach is available at https://github.com/Gabriellm2003/remote_sensing_missing_data.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin

Paving the Way for Automatic Mapping of Rural Roads in the Amazon Rainforest

Output Status: Forthcomin

Spatio-Temporal Vegetation Pixel Classification by Using Convolutional Networks

Plant phenology studies rely on long-term monitoring of life cycles of plants. High-resolution unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and near-surface technologies have been used for plant monitoring, demanding the creation of methods capable of locating, and identifying plant species through time and space. However, this is a challenging task given the high volume of data, the constant data missing from temporal dataset, the heterogeneity of temporal profiles, the variety of plant visual patterns, and the unclear definition of individuals' boundaries in plant communities. In this letter, we propose a novel method, suitable for phenological monitoring, based on convolutional networks (ConvNets) to perform spatio-temporal vegetation pixel classification on high-resolution images. We conducted a systematic evaluation using high-resolution vegetation image datasets associated with the Brazilian Cerrado biome. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is effective, overcoming other spatio-temporal pixel-classification strategies

Facing Erosion Identification in Railway Lines Using Pixel-wise Deep-based Approaches

Soil erosion is considered one of the most expensive natural hazards with a high impact on several infrastructure assets. Among them, railway lines are one of the most likely constructions for the appearance of erosion and, consequently, one of the most troublesome due to the maintenance costs, risks of derailments, and so on. Therefore, it is fundamental to identify and monitor erosion in railway lines to prevent major consequences. Currently, erosion identification is manually performed by humans using huge image sets, a time-consuming and slow task. Hence, automatic machine learning methods appear as an appealing alternative. A crucial step for automatic erosion identification is to create a good feature representation. Towards such objective, deep learning can learn data-driven features and classifiers. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning-based framework capable of performing erosion identification in railway lines. Six techniques were evaluated and the best one, Dynamic Dilated ConvNet, was integrated into this framework that was then encapsulated into a new ArcGIS plugin to facilitate its use by non-programmer users. To analyze such techniques, we also propose a new dataset, composed of almost 2,000 high-resolution images