Cooperative evolutionary classification algorithm for hyperspectral images

Abstract

Reliable crop maps are a vital source of information for many economic sectors. Hyperspectral images and efficient supervised classification algorithms can help in obtaining these maps. One of the objectives is to use a spectroradiometer as a source of a priori information for training supervised classification algorithms. Although there are many supervised classification algorithms, few can be trained using collected spectral signatures, such as spectral angle mapper (SAM). This algorithm relies on setting the angle threshold values manually to separate different classes, and it is usually a random process. So, the second objective is to use an automated process to optimize the angle threshold values to improve the efficiency of the SAM algorithm. An innovative cooperative classification algorithm for hyperspectral images based on enhancing the supervised SAM algorithm performance using a genetic algorithm (GA) is presented. The improvement is based on selecting global optimal threshold angle values for different classes using GA. The efficiency of the developed cooperative evolutionary algorithm is proved by classifying hyperspectral images to create maps of major crops, such as wheat, potato, and alfalfa. The source of the hyperspectral images is the Compact High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer onboard of the Proba satellite. The evaluation of the results showed that the new cooperative evolutionary algorithm classified hyperspectral images with the highest accuracy compared to well-known reliable supervised classification algorithms.