Fast and automatic object detection in remote sensing images is a critical and challenging task for civilian and military applications. Recently, deep learning approaches were introduced to overcome the limitation of traditional object detection methods. In this paper, adaptive mask Region-based Convolutional Network (mask-RCNN) is utilized for multi-class object detection in remote sensing images. Transfer learning, data augmentation, and fine-tuning were adopted to overcome objects scale variability, small size, the density of objects, and the scarcity of annotated remote sensing image. Also, five optimization methods were investigated namely: Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam), stochastic gradient decent (SGD), adaptive learning rate method (Adelta), Root Mean Square Propagation (RMSprop) and hybrid optimization. In hybrid optimization, the training process begins Adam then switches to SGD when appropriate and vice versa. Also, the behaviour of adaptive mask RCNN was compared to baseline deep object detection methods. Several experiments were conducted on the challenging NWPU-VHR-10 dataset. The hybrid method Adam_SGD acheived the highest Accuracy precision, with 95%. Experimental results showed detection performance in terms of accuracy and intersection over union (IOU) boost of performance up to 6%.

The Earth's surface changes continuously due to several natural and humanmade factors. Efficient change detection (CD) is useful in monitoring and managing different situations. The recent rise in launched hyperspectral platforms provides a diversity of spectrum in addition to the spatial resolution required to meet recent civil applications requirements. Traditional multispectral CD algorithms hardly cope with the complex nature of hyperspectral images and their high dimensionality. To overcome these limitations, a CD deep convolutional neural network (CNN) semantic segmentation-based workflow was proposed. The proposed workflow is composed of four main stages, namely preprocessing, training, testing, and evaluation. Initially, preprocessing is performed to overcome hyperspectral image noise and the high dimensionality problem. Random oversampling (ROS), deep learning, and bagging ensemble were incorporated to handle imbalanced dataset. Also, we evaluated the generality and performance of the original UNet model and four variants of UNet, namely residual UNet, residual recurrent UNet, attention UNet, and attention residual recurrent UNet. Three hyperspectral CD datasets were employed in performance assessment for binary and multiclass change cases; all datasets suffer from class imbalance and small region of interest size. Recurrent residual UNet presented the best performance in both accuracy and inference time. Overall, the obtained results imply that deep CNN segmentation models can be utilized to implement efficient CD for hyperspectral imageries. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

S TRESSED environments have long been a question of great interest in a wide range of fields. So, many considerable literatures have grown up around this theme. In Egypt, there are several common problems related to the stressed environments. These stresses include decline of soil fertility, soil salinity and alkalinity, soil water logging, salt-affected soils, soil pollution, climate change, overpopulation growth, urban sprawl, land degradation, deterioration of natural resources, etc. More generally, national income will decline and will in turn result in the spread of social and political problems. Kafr El-Sheikh governorate can be considered one of the most important areas in Egypt, which calls "the governorate of the hope and the future" due to its location and wealths. Whereas, this governorate suffers from the most common stresses in Egypt including pollution, salinity, alkalinity and waterlogging. Great problems have been recorded in Kafr El-Sheikh related to stressed environments and suggested solutions also have been addressed. Therefore, a sustainable management should be adapted for overcoming these stressed environments in Kafr El-Sheikh.

The prevention of soil salinization and managing agricultural irrigation depend greatly on accurately estimating soil salinity. Although the long-standing laboratory method of measuring salinity composition is accurate for determining soil salinity parameters, its use is frequently constrained by the high expense and difficulty of long-term in situ measurement. Soil salinity in the northern Nile Delta of Egypt severely affects agriculture sustainability and food security in Egypt. Understanding the spatial distribution of soil salinity is a critical factor for agricultural development and management in drylands. This research aims to improve soil salinity prediction by using a combined data collection method consisting of Sentinel-1 C radar data and Sentinel-2 optical data acquired simultaneously via integrated radar and optical sensor variables. The modelling approach focuses on feature selection strategies and regression learning. Feature selection approaches that include the filter, wrapper, and embedded methods were used with 47 selected variables depending on a genetic algorithm to scrutinize whether regions of the spectrum from optical indices and SAR texture choose the optimum combinations of selected variables. The sub-setting variables resulting from each feature selection method were used to train the regression learners’ random forest (RF), linear regression (LR), backpropagation neural network (BPNN), and support vector regression (SVR). Combining the BPNN feature selection method with the RF regression learner better predicted soil salinity (RME 0.000246; sub-setting variables = 18). Integrating different remote sensing data and machine learning provides an opportunity to develop a robust prediction approach to predict soil salinity in drylands. This research evaluated the performances of various machine learning models, overcame the limitations of conventional techniques, and optimized the variable input combinations. This research can assist farmers in soil-salinization-affected areas in better managing planting procedures and enhancing the sustainability of their lands.

No abstract