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Abstract Conventionally, high dynamic-range (HDR) imaging is based on taking two or more pictures of the same scene with different exposure. However, due to a high-speed relative motion between the camera and the scene, it is hard for this technique to be applied to push-broom remote sensing cameras. For the sake of HDR imaging in push-broom remote sensing applications, the present paper proposes an innovative method which can generate HDR images without redundant image sensors or optical components. Specifically, this paper adopts an area array CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) with the digital domain time-delay-integration (DTDI) technology for imaging, instead of adopting more than one row of image sensors, thereby taking more than one picture with different exposure. And then a new HDR image by fusing two original images with a simple algorithm can be achieved. By conducting the experiment, the dynamic range (DR) of the image increases by 26.02 dB. The proposed method is proved to be effective and has potential in other imaging applications where there is a relative motion between the cameras and scenes.

The research on hyperspectral anomaly detection algorithms has become a hotspot, driven by a lot of practical applications, such as mineral exploration, environmental monitoring and the national defense force. However, most existing hyperspectral anomaly detectors are designed with a single pixel as unit, which may not make full use of the spatial and spectral information in the hyperspectral image to detect anomalies. In this paper, to fully combine and utilize the spatial and spectral information of hyperspectral images, we propose a novel spectral-based selective searching method for hyperspectral anomaly detection, which firstly combines adjacent pixels with the same spectral characteristics into regions with adaptive shape and size and then treats those regions as one processing unit. Then, by fusing adjacent regions with similar spectral characteristics, the anomaly can be successfully distinguished from background. Two standard hyperspectral datasets are introduced to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The detection performance is depicted by intuitive detection images, receiver operating characteristic curves and area under curve values. Comparing the results of the proposed method with five popular and state-of-the-art methods proves that the spectral-based selective searching method is an accurate and effective method to detect anomalies.

Numerous applications are hindered by shadows in high resolution satellite remote sensing images, like image classification, target recognition and change detection. In order to improve remote sensing image utilization, significant importance appears for restoring surface feature information under shadow regions. Problems inevitably occur for current shadow compensation methods in processing high resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images, such as color distortion of compensated shadow and interference of non-shadow. In this study, to further settle these problems, we analyzed the surface irradiance of both shadow and non-shadow areas based on a satellite sensor imaging mechanism and radiative transfer theory, and finally develop an irradiance restoration based (IRB) shadow compensation approach under the assumption that the shadow area owns the same irradiance to the nearby non-shadow area containing the same type features. To validate the performance of the proposed IRB approach for shadow compensation, we tested numerous images of WorldView-2 and WorldView-3 acquired at different sites and times. We particularly evaluated the shadow compensation performance of the proposed IRB approach by qualitative visual sense comparison and quantitative assessment with two WorldView-3 test images of Tripoli, Libya. The resulting images automatically produced by our IRB method deliver a good visual sense and relatively low relative root mean square error (rRMSE) values. Experimental results show that the proposed IRB shadow compensation approach can not only compensate information of surface features in shadow areas both effectively and automatically, but can also well preserve information of objects in non-shadow regions for high resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images.

Shadow often results in difficulties for subsequent image applications of multispectral satellite remote sensing images, like object recognition and change detection. With continuous improvement in both spatial and spectral resolutions of satellite remote sensing images, a more serious impact occurs on satellite remote sensing image interpretation due to the existence of shadow. Though various shadow detection methods have been developed, problems of both shadow omission and nonshadow misclassification still exist for detecting shadow well in high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images. These shadow detection problems mainly include high small shadow omission and typical nonshadow misclassification (like bluish and greenish nonshadow misclassification, and large dark nonshadow misclassification). For further resolving these problems, a new shadow index is developed based on the analysis of the property difference between shadow and the corresponding nonshadow with several multispectral band components (i.e., near-infrared, red, green and blue components) and hue and intensity components in various invariant color spaces (i.e., HIS, HSV, CIELCh, YCbCr and YIQ), respectively. The shadow mask is further acquired by applying an optimal threshold determined automatically on the shadow index image. The final shadow image is further optimized with a definite morphological operation of opening and closing. The proposed algorithm is verified with many images from WorldView-3 and WorldView-2 acquired at different times and sites. The proposed algorithm performance is particularly evaluated by qualitative visual sense comparison and quantitative assessment of shadow detection results in comparative experiments with two WorldView-3 test images of Tripoli, Libya. Both the better visual sense and the higher overall accuracy (over 92% for the test image Tripoli-1 and approximately 91% for the test image Tripoli-2) of the experimental results together deliver the excellent performance and robustness of the proposed shadow detection approach for shadow detection of high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images. The proposed shadow detection approach is promised to further alleviate typical shadow detection problems of high small shadow omission and typical nonshadow misclassification for high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images.

Shadows in very high-resolution multispectral remote sensing images hinder many applications, such as change detection, target recognition, and image classification. Though a wide variety of significant research has explored shadow detection, shadow pixels are still more or less omitted and are wrongly confused with vegetation pixels in some cases. In this study, to further manage the problems of shadow omission and vegetation misclassification, a mixed property-based shadow index is developed for detecting shadows in very high-resolution multispectral remote sensing images based on the difference of the hue component and the intensity component between shadows and nonshadows, and the difference of the reflectivity of the red band and the near infrared band between shadows and vegetation cover in nonshadows. Then, the final shadow mask is achieved, with an optimal threshold automatically obtained from the index image histogram. To validate the effectiveness of our approach for shadow detection, three test images are selected from the multispectral WorldView-3 images of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and are tested with our method. When compared with other investigated standard shadow detection methods, the resulting images produced by our method deliver a higher average overall accuracy (95.02%) and a better visual sense. The highly accurate data show the efficacy and stability of the proposed approach in appropriately detecting shadows and correctly classifying shadow pixels against the vegetation pixels for very high-resolution multispectral remote sensing images.

The digital time delay integration (digital TDI) technology of the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor has been widely adopted and developed in the optical remote sensing field. However, the details of targets that have low illumination or low contrast in scenarios of high contrast are often drowned out because of the superposition of multi-stage images in digital domain multiplies the read noise and the dark noise, thus limiting the imaging dynamic range. Through an in-depth analysis of the information transfer model of digital TDI, this paper attempts to explore effective ways to overcome this issue. Based on the evaluation and analysis of multi-stage images, the entropy-maximized adaptive histogram equalization (EMAHE) algorithm is proposed to improve the ability of images to express the details of dark or low-contrast targets. Furthermore, in this paper, an image fusion method is utilized based on gradient pyramid decomposition and entropy weighting of different TDI stage images, which can improve the detection ability of the digital TDI CMOS for complex scenes with high contrast, and obtain images that are suitable for recognition by the human eye. The experimental results show that the proposed methods can effectively improve the high-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI) capability of the digital TDI CMOS. The obtained images have greater entropy and average gradients.

Conventionally, high dynamic-range (HDR) imaging is based on taking two or more pictures of the same scene with different exposure. However, due to a high-speed relative motion between the camera and the scene, it is hard for this technique to be applied to push-broom remote sensing cameras. For the sake of HDR imaging in push-broom remote sensing applications, the present paper proposes an innovative method which can generate HDR images without redundant image sensors or optical components. Specifically, this paper adopts an area array CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) with the digital domain time-delay-integration (DTDI) technology for imaging, instead of adopting more than one row of image sensors, thereby taking more than one picture with different exposure. And then a new HDR image by fusing two original images with a simple algorithm can be achieved. By conducting the experiment, the dynamic range (DR) of the image increases by 26.02 dB. The proposed method is proved to be effective and has potential in other imaging applications where there is a relative motion between the cameras and scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]