Change Detection In Multitemporal Images Research Articles

A novel automatic method on pseudo-invariant features extraction for enhancing the relative radiometric normalization of high-resolution images

ABSTRACT Relative radiometric normalization (RRN) is a critical preprocessing step that is widely applied to remote sensing data. Essential to RRN are the pseudo-invariant features (PIFs) – ground objects with invariant reflectance across the acquisition dates of multiple images. To meet the requirements of RRN for change detection in multi-temporal images, this paper proposed a novel automatic method for PIF extraction: first, we calculated spectral, spatial, and visual features for the images. Next, a set of change vectors were generated to quantify the features’ differences. Then, the initial PIF was obtained by synthesizing similar pixels from each change vector. Finally, an iterative linear regression was performed to generate the final PIFs. Furthermore, we employed the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm to establish the RRN model for normalizing the target image. The methods and workflow of PIF extraction and the RRN model establishment were validated with two TripleSat-2 multi-spectral images with a spatial resolution of 3.2 metres. The applicability of the proposed PIF extraction method was further validated by Landsat-8 OLI, GF-1 WFV, Sentinel-2 MSI, and WorldView-2 images. The results showed that: (1) The proposed PIF extraction method can automatically obtain the PIFs with high precision. Based on the extracted PIFs, the RANSAC algorithm is capable of building the RRN model with a significant linear relationship. (2) The PIF extraction method is applicable to multi-spectral images with different spatial resolutions. (3) Compared with the multivariate alteration detection (MAD) and the iteratively reweighted MAD (IR-MAD), the proposed PIF extraction method achieved a better performance in selecting the pixels with smaller radiometric differences, which is helpful to reach a higher accuracy of the RRN model. (4) Differences in image brightness, spectral domain, and spatial domain are considered in the PIF extraction method with fewer parameters and high portability. (5) Spectral features are dominant to obtain ideal PIFs, and feature combinations can get the advantages to enhance the effectiveness of the PIFs.

Change Detection Algorithm for Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Images Based on Adaptive Parameter Estimation

This paper proposes a multi-temporal image change detection algorithm based on adaptive parameter estimation, which is used to solve the problems of severe interference of coherent speckle noise and the retention of detailed information about changing regions in synthetic aperture radar remote sensing images. The change area in the initial differential image has local consistency and global prominence. By detecting the significant area to locate similar change areas, the coherent speckle noise outside the area can be eliminated. The use of hierarchical FCM clustering to automatically generate training samples can improve the reliability of training samples. In addition, in order to increase the distinction between the changed area and the non-changed area, a sparse automatic encoder is used to extract the changed features and generate a change detection map. Experiments using 4 sets of SAR images show that the algorithm can effectively reduce the effect of speckle noise on detection accuracy, the extraction of changing areas is more complete and meticulous, and the false detection rate is greatly reduced. Since the images in different time phases will be disturbed by weather, clouds, sea water, etc., the target segmentation algorithm can be used to extract the target of interest and highlight the changing area. Principal component analysis and k-means clustering method are used to reduce the influence of isolated pixels, and change information is extracted to obtain different images. The experiment uses four sets of image data of islands and reefs. The experiment proves that the algorithm can well eliminate external interference, improve the accuracy of change detection, and have a good detection effect on the area of islands and reefs. The adaptive parameter estimation plays a good role in the detection of changing areas, and the visual effect is better, which can improve the accuracy of the detection results.

An Unsupervised Approach to Change Detection in Built-Up Areas by Multitemporal PolSAR Images

Information from polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) imagery has been used for detecting built-up targets in classification problems, whereas it has been poorly exploited for change detection in multitemporal images. In this letter, we proposed an unsupervised approach for the detection of built-up changed areas from multitemporal full-polSAR images. The approach is based on the automatic thresholding of a novel change index based on the joint use of polarimetric span and average-alpha multitemporal information. The index is proposed for highlighting both constructed and demolished built-up elements. The experimental results on multitemporal UAVSAR images demonstrate that the proposed approach provides high detection accuracy and effectively separates among different types of changes, which is not the case with standard methods.

A New Approach to Performing Bundle Adjustment for Time Series UAV Images 3D Building Change Detection

Successful change detection in multi-temporal images relies on high spatial co-registration accuracy. However, co-registration accuracy alone cannot meet the needs of change detection when using several ground control points to separately geo-reference multi-temporal images from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This letter reports on a new approach to perform bundle adjustment—named united bundle adjustment (UBA)—to solve this co-registration problem for change detection in multi-temporal UAV images. In UBA, multi-temporal UAV images are matched with each other to construct a unified tie point net. One single bundle adjustment process is performed on the unified tie point net, placing every image into the same coordinate system and thus automatically accomplishing spatial co-registration. We then perform change detection using both orthophotos and three-dimensional height information derived from dense image matching techniques. Experimental results show that UBA co-registration accuracy is higher than the accuracy of commonly-used approaches for multi-temporal UAV images. Our proposed preprocessing method extends the capacities of consumer-level UAVs so they can eventually meet the growing need for automatic building change detection and dynamic monitoring using only RGB band images.

Multilayer Architecture for Heterogeneous Geospatial Data Analytics: Querying and Understanding EO Archives

The constantly growing process of the Earth Observation (EO) data and their heterogeneity require new systems and tools for effectively querying and understanding the available data archives. In this paper, we present a tool for heterogeneous geospatial data analytics. The system implements different web technologies in a multilayer server–client architecture, allowing the user to visually analyze satellite images, maps, and in-situ information. Specifically, the information managed is composed of EO multispectral and synthetic aperture radar products along with the multitemporal in-situ LUCAS surveys. The integration of these data provides a very useful information during the EO scene interpretation process. The system also offers interactive tools for the detection of optimal datasets for EO multitemporal image change detection, providing at the same time ground-truth points for both human and machine analyses. Furthermore, we show by means of visual analytic representations a way to analyze and understand the content and distribution of the EO databases.

A support vector domain method for change detection in multitemporal images

This paper formulates the problem of distinguishing changed from unchanged pixels in multitemporal remote sensing images as a minimum enclosing ball (MEB) problem with changed pixels as target class. The definition of the sphere-shaped decision boundary with minimal volume that embraces changed pixels is approached in the context of the support vector formalism adopting a support vector domain description (SVDD) one-class classifier. SVDD maps the data into a high dimensional feature space where the spherical support of the high dimensional distribution of changed pixels is computed. Unlike the standard SVDD, the proposed formulation of the SVDD uses both target and outlier samples for defining the MEB, and is included here in an unsupervised scheme for change detection. To this purpose, nearly certain training examples for the classes of both targets (i.e., changed pixels) and outliers (i.e., unchanged pixels) are identified by thresholding the magnitude of the spectral change vectors. Experimental results obtained on two different multitemporal and multispectral remote sensing images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.