Abstract-Feature reduction in a remote sensing dataset is often desirable to decrease the processing time required to perform a classification and improve overall classification accuracy. This work introduces a feature reduction method based on the singular value decomposition (SVD). This feature reduction technique was applied to training data from two multitemporal datasets of Landsat TM/ETM+ imagery acquired over a forested area in Virginia, USA and Rondônia, Brazil. Subsequent parallel iterative guided spectral class rejection (pIGSCR) forest/non-forest classifications were performed to determine the quality of the feature reduction. The classifications of the Virginia data were five times faster using SVD-based feature reduction without affecting the classification accuracy. Feature reduction using the SVD was also compared to feature reduction using principal components analysis (PCA). The highest average accuracies for the Virginia dataset (88.34%) and for the Rondônia dataset (93.31%) were achieved using the SVD. The results presented here indicate that SVD-based feature reduction can produce statistically significantly better classifications than PCA.

This paper describes a new algorithm used to adaptively filter a remote sensing dataset based on signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) once the maximum noise fraction (MNF) has been applied. This algorithm uses Hermite splines to calculate the approximate area underneath the SNR curve as a function of band number, and that area is used to place bands into "bins" with other bands having similar SNRs. A median filter with a variable sized kernel is then applied to each band, with the same size kernel used for each band in a particular bin. The proposed adaptive filters are applied to a hyperspectral image generated by the AVIRIS sensor, and results are given for the identification of three different pine species located within the study area. The adaptive filtering scheme improves image quality as shown by estimated SNRs, and classification accuracies improved by more than 10% on the sample study area, indicating that the proposed methods improve the image quality, thereby aiding in species discrimination.

Coherent change detection using paired synthetic aperture radar images is often performed using a classical coherence estimator that is invariant to the true variances of the populations underlying each paired sample. While attractive, this estimator is biased and requires a significant number of samples to yield good performance. Increasing sample size often results in decreased image resolution. Thus, we propose use of Berger's coherence estimate because with the same number of pixels, the estimator effectively doubles the sample support without sacrificing resolution when the underlying population variances are equal or near equal. A potential drawback of this approach is that it is not invariant since its distribution depends on the pixel pair population variances. While Berger's estimator is inherently sensitive to the inequality of population variances, we propose a method of insulating the detector from this acuity. A two-stage change statistic is introduced to combine a non-coherent intensity change statistic given by the sample variance ratio followed by the alternative Berger estimator which assumes equal population variances. The first stage detector identifies pixel pairs that have non-equal variances as changes caused by the displacement of sizable object. The pixel pairs that are identified to have equal or near equal variances in the first stage are used as an input to the second stage. The second stage test uses the alternative Berger coherence estimator to detect subtle changes such as tire tracks and footprints. We show experimentally that the proposed method yields higher contrast SAR change detection images This work is sponsored by the United States Air Force under Air Force Contract FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government.

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