Statistically Principled Deep Learning for SAR Image Segmentation

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image segmentation is the key to SAR image automatic interpretation. However, speckle noise, intensity inhomogeneity, and irregular shaped objects with changing edge often make the SAR image segmentation very difficult, and existing algorithms have high computational complexity. We propose a region-based level set method using the local image intensity information. To represent the statistical characteristics of speckle noise, we first use a gamma statistical distribution to model every segmented SAR image. We then apply a modified region mean estimation formula to efficiently segment SAR images with inhomogeneity. Finally, Gaussian filtering is employed to regularize the level set function, which can avoid reinitialization. The experimental results on synthetic and real-world SAR images demonstrate that the proposed method has less computation cost, faster convergence rate, and more accurate segmentation results.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image segmentation stands as a formidable research frontier within the domain of SAR image interpretation. The fully convolutional network (FCN) methods have recently brought remarkable improvements in SAR image segmentation. Nevertheless, these methods do not utilize the peculiarities of SAR images, leading to suboptimal segmentation accuracy. To address this issue, we rethink SAR image segmentation in terms of sequential information of transformers and cross-modal features. We first discuss the peculiarities of SAR images and extract the mean and texture features utilized as auxiliary features. The extraction of auxiliary features helps unearth the distinctive information in the SAR images. Afterward, a feature-enhanced FCN with the transformer encoder structure, termed FE-FCN, which can be extracted to context-level and pixel-level features. In FE-FCN, the features of a single-mode encoder are aligned and inserted into the model to explore the potential correspondence between modes. We also employ long skip connections to share each modality’s distinguishing and particular features. Finally, we present the connection-enhanced conditional random field (CE-CRF) to capture the connection information of the image pixels. Since the CE-CRF utilizes the auxiliary features to enhance the reliability of the connection information, the segmentation results of FE-FCN are further optimized. Comparative experiments conducted on the Fangchenggang (FCG), Pucheng (PC), and Gaofen (GF) SAR datasets. Our method demonstrates superior segmentation accuracy compared to other conventional image segmentation methods, as confirmed by the experimental results.

This paper proposes a new approach for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image segmentation. Segmenting SAR images can be challenging because of the blurry edges and the high speckle. The segmentation proposed is based on a machine learning technique. Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) were already used to segment images in the visual field and are here adapted to work with single channel SAR images. The segmentation suggested is designed to be a first step towards feature and model based classification. The recall rate is the most important as the goal is to retain most target's features. A high recall rate of 88%, higher than for other segmentation methods on the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) dataset, was obtained. The next classification stage is thus not affected by a lack of information while its computation load drops. With this method, the inclusion of disruptive features in models of targets is limited, providing computationally lighter models and a speed up in further classification as the narrower segmented areas foster convergence of models and provide refined features to compare. This segmentation method is hence an asset to template, feature and model based classification methods. Besides this method, a comparison between variants of the GMMs segmentation and a classical segmentation is provided.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image segmentation usually involves two crucial issues: suitable speckle noise removing technique and effective image segmentation methodology. Here, an efficient SAR image segmentation method considering both of the two aspects is presented. As for the first issue, the famous nonlocal mean (NLM) filter is introduced in this study to suppress the multiplicative speckle noise in SAR image. Furthermore, to achieve a higher denoising accuracy, the local neighboring pixels in the searching window are projected into a lower dimensional subspace by principal component analysis (PCA). Thus, the nonlocal mean filter is implemented in the subspace. Afterwards, a multi-objective clustering algorithm is proposed using the principals of artificial immune system (AIS) and kernel-induced distance measures. The multi-objective clustering has been shown to discover the data distribution with different characteristics and the kernel methods can improve its robustness to noise and outliers. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is able to partition the SAR image robustly and accurately than the conventional approaches.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image segmentation is investigated from feature extraction to algorithm design, which is characterized by two aspects: (1) multiple heterogeneous features are extracted to describe SAR images and the corresponding similarity measures are developed independently to avoid the mutual influences between different features in order to enhance the discriminability of the final similarity between objects. (2) A method called fuzzy clustering based on independent subspace iterative optimization (FCISIO) is proposed. FCISIO integrates multiple features into an objective function which is then iteratively optimized in each feature subspace to obtain final segmentation results. This strategy can protect the distribution structures of the data points in each feature subspace, which realizes an effective way to integrate multiple features of different properties. In order to improve the computation speed and the accuracy of feature description for FCISIO, we design a region merging algorithm before FCISIO which can use many kinds of information to quickly merge regions inside the true segments. Experiments on synthetic and real SAR images show that the proposed method is effective and robust and can obtain good segmentation results with a very short running time.

In general, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging and image processing are two sequential steps in SAR image processing. Due to the large size of SAR images, most image processing algorithms require image segmentation before processing. However, the existence of speckle noise in SAR images, as well as poor contrast and the uneven distribution of gray values in the same target, make SAR images difficult to segment. In order to facilitate the subsequent processing of SAR images, this paper proposes a new method that combines the back-projection algorithm (BPA) and a first-order gradient operator to enhance the edges of SAR images to overcome image segmentation problems. For complex-valued signals, the gradient operator was applied directly to the imaging process. The experimental results of simulated images and real images validate our proposed method. For the simulated scene, the supervised image segmentation evaluation indexes of our method have more than 1.18%, 11.2% and 11.72% improvement on probabilistic Rand index (PRI), variability index (VI), and global consistency error (GCE). The proposed imaging method will make SAR image segmentation and related applications easier.

In recent years, regional algorithms have shown great potential in the field of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image segmentation. However, SAR images have a variety of landforms and a landform with complex texture is difficult to be divided as a whole. Due to speckle noise, traditional over-segmentation algorithm may cause mixed superpixels with different labels. They are usually located adjacent to two areas or contain more noise. In this paper, a new semantic segmentation method of SAR images based on texture complexity analysis and key superpixels is proposed. Texture complexity analysis is performed and on this basis, mixed superpixels are selected as key superpixels. Specifically, the texture complexity of the input image is calculated by a new method. Then a new superpixels generation method called neighbourhood information simple linear iterative clustering (NISLIC) is used to over-segment the image. For images with high texture complexity, the complex areas are first separated and key superpixels are selected according to certain rules. For images with low texture complexity, key superpixels are directly extracted. Finally, the superpixels are pre-segmented by fuzzy clustering based on the extracted features and the key superpixels are processed at the pixel level to obtain the final result. The effectiveness of this method has been successfully verified on several kinds of images. Comparing with the state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed algorithm can more effectively distinguish different landforms and suppress the influence of noise, so as to achieve semantic segmentation of SAR images.

Non-Gaussian triplet Markov fields (TMF) model is suitable for dealing with multi-class segmentation of non-stationary and non-Gaussian synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Considering the complexity of the model and algorithm, as well as the requirement of real-time, and robust and efficient processing of SAR images, a fast algorithm based on TMF for unsupervised multi-class segmentation of SAR images is proposed in this paper. For the speckle noise in SAR images, numerical characteristic, threshold selection and QuadTree decomposition criterion are researched firstly. With the new method, a SAR image can quickly be mapped into an edge-based pixon-representation, which results in a coarse decomposition in smooth regions, and a fine decomposition in edges. Then by combining TMF model with the pixon-representation of SAR image, a new potential energy function of TMF based on pixon-representation is derived. Finally, the segmentation is finished by Bayesian maximum posterior mode (MPM). The effectiveness of the fast TMF algorithm is demonstrated by applying it to simulated data and real SAR images.

As an important step of synthetic aperture radar image interpretation, synthetic aperture radar image segmentation aims at segmenting an image into different regions in terms of homogeneity. Because of the deficiency of the labeled samples and the existence of speckling noise, synthetic aperture radar image segmentation is a challenging task. We present a new method for synthetic aperture radar image segmentation in this article. Due to the large size of the original synthetic aperture radar image, we first divide the input image into small slices. Then the image slices are input to the attention-based fully convolutional network for obtaining the segmentation results. Finally, the fully connected conditional random field is adopted for improving the segmentation performance of the network. The innovations of our method are as follows: 1) The attention-based fully convolutional network is embedded with the multiscale attention network which is capable of enhancing the extraction of the image features through three strategies, namely, multiscale feature extraction, channel attention extraction, and spatial attention extraction. 2) We design a new loss function for the attention fully convolutional network by combining Lovasz-Softmax and cross-entropy losses. The new loss allows us to simultaneously optimize the intersection over union and the pixel classification accuracy of the segmentation results. The experiments are performed on two airborne synthetic aperture radar image databases. It has been proved that our method is superior to other state-of- the-art image segmentation approaches.

Sea ice is critical to map for safe and efficient maritime navigation, to mitigate ship trapping and capsizing. Sea ice is also vital to monitor to assess the state of the changing climate and a critical component in climate and weather models, reflecting sunlight towards space and acting as an insulating material between the ocean surface and the atmosphere.Professional sea ice analysts at national ice services map sea ice based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired by satellites, such as the Sentinel-1 (S1) satellite constellation. The ice analysts manually interpret the SAR images using their in-depth knowledge and experience to create sea ice charts with information on the sea ice conditions.A challenge for the S1 5.4 GHz SAR measurements is that the radar wave does not penetrate deep into the sea ice and is scattered/reflected by the surface. Therefore, the SAR images provide information primarily about the sea ice surface, useful for identifying and classify sea ice conditions. The charts describe, among others, the sea ice’s stage of development - the type of sea ice - an indicator of its thickness. The manual charting process apply sea ice classes, defined by the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Considerable uncertainties are associated with the ice classes that can vary from, e.g. 30-200cm or 70-120cm in thickness. Deep-learning models that produce stage-of-development information from S1 radar images exist but has the same inherent limitations of the sea ice charts in the model outputs.Current state-of-the-art sea ice thickness retrieval methods relies on altimeter satellites, such as the CryoSat-2 (CS2) satellite. The distance between the ocean and the sea ice is measured, known as the sea ice freeboard. For a Ku-band radar altimeter like CS2, it is assumed that the radar response penetrates the snow and returns from the sea ice surface. As the true penetration is unknown, and the radar wave propagation is delayed when the signal passes through snow, the measured quantity is known as the radar freeboard.The sea ice thickness can be estimated with an accuracy of 20-40% using the radar freeboard by calculating the sea ice's buoyancy based on snow and ice density estimates, and auxiliary snow depth information. However, CS2 only measures 1600m across the orbit and can thus only monitor sea ice thickness in the Arctic monthly - insufficient for many applications, such as maritime navigation, and leaves data record gaps. S1 SAR on the other hand, cover 400km in Extra Wide mode across the orbit with repeating coverage every week.Here, we present our preliminary results of circumventing the limitations of CS2 and S1 by training supervised deep-learning convolutional neural network (CNN) models to recognise sea ice textures in S1 SAR images and assign sea ice radar freeboard estimates acquired by CS2. This approach transfers information acquired by CS2 to S1, which we call Cryo2S1. A Cryo2S1 dataset is curated, containing several thousand collocated S1 SAR images and along-track CS2 measurements during 2020-2021.

Region map is the sparse representation of a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image on the middle-level semantic layer in its semantic space. Based on the semantic information of the region map, the high-resolution SAR image is divided into hybrid, structural, and homogeneous pixel subspaces. The segmentation of SAR images can be divided into these three subspaces segmentation, of which the segmentation of hybrid subspace has more challenge because of complex structures. There are often many extremely inhomogeneous areas in the hybrid pixel subspace. Are these nonconnected areas in the same or different classes? To solve this problem, a Bayesian learning model with the constraint of sketch characteristic and an initialization method is proposed to construct a structural vector that can reflect the essential features of each extremely inhomogeneous area. Then, the unsupervised segmentation of the hybrid pixel subspace can be realized by using the structural vectors of these areas in this paper. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the performance of the hybrid pixel subspace segmentation realized by the structural vectors based on the Bayesian learning model proposed in the paper is better than that only used by hand designing features.

The usage of a hypersonic platform for remote sensing application has promising prospects, especially for hypersonic platform-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. However, the high-speed of hypersonic platform will lead to extreme friction between the platform and air, which will cause the ionization of air. The ionized gas forms the plasma sheath wrapped around the hypersonic platform. The plasma sheath will severely affect the propagation of SAR signal and further affect the SAR imaging. Therefore, hypersonic platform-borne SAR imaging should be studied from a physical perspective. In this paper, hypersonic platform-borne SAR imaging under plasma sheath is analyzed. The SAR signal propagation in plasma sheath is computed using scatter matrix method. The proposed SAR signal model is verified by using a ground experiment system. Moreover, the effect of attenuation caused by plasma sheath on SAR imaging is studied under different SAR parameters and plasma sheath. The result shows that attenuation caused by plasma sheath will degrade the SAR imaging quality and even cause the point and area targets to be submerged into the noise. The real SAR images under plasma sheath also illustrate this phenomenon. Furthermore, by studying imaging results under different SAR and plasma parameters, it can be concluded that the severe degradation of SAR imaging quality appears at condition of high plasma sheath electron density and low SAR carrier frequency. The work in this paper will be beneficial for the study of hypersonic platform-borne SAR imaging and design of hypersonic SAR imaging systems in the future.

Ship detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is becoming a research hotspot. In recent years, as the rise of artificial intelligence, deep learning has almost dominated SAR ship detection community for its higher accuracy, faster speed, less human intervention, etc. However, today, there is still a lack of a reliable deep learning SAR ship detection dataset that can meet the practical migration application of ship detection in large-scene space-borne SAR images. Thus, to solve this problem, this paper releases a Large-Scale SAR Ship Detection Dataset-v1.0 (LS-SSDD-v1.0) from Sentinel-1, for small ship detection under large-scale backgrounds. LS-SSDD-v1.0 contains 15 large-scale SAR images whose ground truths are correctly labeled by SAR experts by drawing support from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Google Earth. To facilitate network training, the large-scale images are directly cut into 9000 sub-images without bells and whistles, providing convenience for subsequent detection result presentation in large-scale SAR images. Notably, LS-SSDD-v1.0 has five advantages: (1) large-scale backgrounds, (2) small ship detection, (3) abundant pure backgrounds, (4) fully automatic detection flow, and (5) numerous and standardized research baselines. Last but not least, combined with the advantage of abundant pure backgrounds, we also propose a Pure Background Hybrid Training mechanism (PBHT-mechanism) to suppress false alarms of land in large-scale SAR images. Experimental results of ablation study can verify the effectiveness of the PBHT-mechanism. LS-SSDD-v1.0 can inspire related scholars to make extensive research into SAR ship detection methods with engineering application value, which is conducive to the progress of SAR intelligent interpretation technology.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has good performance and is widely used. Ship monitoring plays an important role in the military field, and ship segmentation plays an important role in related research. SAR image segmentation with neural networks requires large amounts of data. In the case of a small data set, traditional data augmentation methods such as scaling and rotation methods have limited promotion on image segmentation. We propose a new method for SAR image augmentation: based on CycleGAN, combined with Slide Window Filtering, convert aerial images to SAR style images, and use it for SAR image segmentation. Experiments show that compared with the traditional data augmentation methods, this method can improve the segmentation result better.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) represents a type of active remote sensing technology that uses microwave electromagnetic radiation to produce and send data to the surface of a target location. SAR imaging is frequently used in national security applications since it is unaffected by weather, geographical location, or time. In this system, many approaches are examined, to improve automation for segmentation and classification. The utilization of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) to classify SAR images has gotten a lot of attention, and it usually requires several layers of deep models for feature learning. With insufficient training data, however, the DNN will get affected by the overfitting issue. The major purpose of this work is to make a development on introducing a new framework for SAR image segmentation and categorization using deep learning. Owing to the coherent nature of the backscattering signal, SARs create speckle noise in their images. If the image has noisy material, classification becomes more challenging. Hence, the pre-processing of the images is employed by linear spatial filtering to remove the noise. Further, the Optimized U-Net is used for the segmentation. For the segmented images, the Binary Robust Independent Elementary Features (BRIEF) concept is adopted as the feature descriptor. These features are inputted to the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with Tuned Weight DNN (C-TWDNN) for the classification. In both segmentation and classification, the parameter tuning is employed by the combination of Galactic Swarm Optimization (GSO) and Deer Hunting Optimization Algorithm (DHOA) called the Self-adaptive-Galactic Deer Hunting Optimization (SA-GDHO). Experiments are conducted on a variety of public datasets, demonstrating that our method is capable of outperforming various expert systems and deep structured architectures.