Paper No: 6 Remote Sensing & GIS Applications in Environmental Sciences

Module: 16 Digital Image Processing

Development Team
Principal Investigator
Prof. R.K. Kohli
&
Prof. V.K. Garg & Prof. Ashok Dhawan
Co- Principal Investigator
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
Dr. Puneeta Pandey
Assistant Professor
Paper Coordinator
Centre for Environmental Sciences and Technology
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
Dr. Sandeep Gupta
Assistant Professor
Content Writer
Institute of Environmental Studies
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
Content Reviewer
Dr. Puneeta Pandey
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

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Anchor Institute Central University of Punjab

Remote Sensing & GIS Applications in Environmental Sciences

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 Description of Module

Subject Name Environmental Sciences

Paper Name Remote Sensing & GIS Applications in Environmental Sciences

Module
Digital Image Processing
Name/Title
Module Id EVS/RSGIS-EVS/16

Pre-requisites Basic knowledge of remote sensing and GIS

Objectives To understand the basic principle of digital image processing of remotely sensed
data
Digital, Pixel, Image Processing, Digital, Pixel, Image Processing, Digital, Pixel,
Keywords Image Processing, Digital Image, Image Pre-processing, Image enhancement,
Image Transformation, Digital Image Classification, Accuracy Assessment

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Module 16: Digital Image Processing
1. Aim of the Module
2. Introduction
3. Digital Image
4. Image Acquisition
5. Image Pre-processing
6. Image Enhancement
7. Image Transformation
8. Image Classification
9. Applications of Digital Image Processing
10. Conclusions
11. References

1. Aim of the module

This chapter provides an approach to understand about a digital image, a short history about the
development in the field of processing of digital images. The digital values play an important role not
only in remote sensing, but also in pattern recognition, medical imaging, GIS integration etc. The
readers after going through this chapter will be able understand the digital image, its structure and
formats, various pre-processing and processing steps and techniques which are helpful in extracting
the information directly or indirectly. The techniques are useful in image acquisition, image
corrections (radiometric, geometric), image enhancement, image transformation, image classification
and accuracy assessment. Finally, readers will also come to know about the application of techniques
of digital image processing.

2. Introduction
“A single portrait is enough to carve the whole story”

As learned in earlier chapter a digital image is like a gray colored two-dimensional matrix made up of

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 finite set of squared cells arranged in rows and columns. These cells in digital world, called as 'picture
elements or pixels', have some assigned numerical value called as digital number (DN) which, in
remote sensing, relates to brightness of the cell. A row of pixels is called as a scan line.

Energy
Source
f(x,y)

Object

Imaging
System
Output Digital
Image
Image
Plane
Value of DN at a pixel = f(x,y)
f(x,y) = Brightness of a pixel
Figure 1. Representation of a 2-D digital image
0<f(x,y)<∞

The development in digital image processing has been evolved since the inception of digital computers
and the two goes in parallel. Digital image processing methods were introduced in early 1920s. In
1921, Bartlane cable picture transmission system was used to transmit digitized newspaper images
over submarine cable lines between London and New York. The images were coded and sent by
telegraph at the transmitter end and decoded into images at the receiver using telegraph printers. The
images were initially coded with 5 gray levels, but this number was increased to 15 in 1929 thereby
enhancing the quality of the reproduced images (BCPTS, 2016).
The availability of digital computers was powerful enough to perform meaningful image processing
tasks appeared in early 1960s. The use of such computers and algorithms for improving the quality of
images of the moon taken by Ranger 7 probe started at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA USA
in 1964. In JPL, the image processing tasks involved was to correct various types of image distortion
inherent in the on-board television camera (Gonzalez and Woods, 2002). Around 1970, the
photographs captured using photographic imaging techniques were transferred to computers for the
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 purpose of automated computer analysis using raster digitization methods (Konecny, 2003). The 1970s
saw a surge in space missions and computing technology. The overwhelming increase in scientific
interest due to growing need felt by scientists working in medicine and planetary sciences for remote
observations of objects and events has led to the multi-dimensional and multifold development of
digital image processing techniques. The invention of computerized tomography (CT) for medical
diagnosis and the release of satellite images of Earth and extra-planetary features taken by Landsat
missions for earth observation in early 1970s were landmark incidents that featured the later
development of digital image processing techniques. The multispectrum imaging characteristics of
Landsat sensors binds the developers to evolve the image processing techniques for visual image
interpretation and digital analysis of information gained in the form of multispectral satellite images in
a meaningful way.
It will not be inappropriate to say that this century is the digital century where we are surrounded with
digital products and technologies and the multimedia information processing is at the core. The
advancement in digital image processing, thus, also coupled with these products and technologies.
The digital image processing is a very vast field. Here, we will try to explain the basic concepts of
different processing techniques applied to digital images for different applications without much
dwelling into mathematical description of imaging and processing.
3. Digital Image
Any image processing task include few essential components. For example, a sensing step will require
i) a physical device that will be sensitive towards absorbing reflected/emitted energy from the source
object and ii) a digitizer that will basically convert the energy absorbed by the physical sensors, for
example in an electrical output form (electrical volt), into a digital form (bits or bytes). These
components has been given in the following figure 2.

Image Display Computer Mass Storage

Hardcopy Image Image

Processing Processing
Hardware Software

Image Sensors

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Problem

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 Figure 2. Essential components of a typical image processing system
The area of remote sensing what we experience today is evolved over a long period of time from aerial
photography where images were use to record as photographs or photograph-like images. A
photographic image is an analog picture or image in the form of a physical record comprising pieces
of paper or film with chemical coatings on it that represent a record of pattern of the image. In analog
images the brightnesses within an image is analogous or proportional to the brightnesses within a
scene. The problem lies with the analog pictures is that the user faces difficulties in storage,
transmission, searching and analysis. Contrary to analog images, the digital images are arrays of
pixels, each with a discrete digital number and are also discernable when analysed visually. The
advantages of having digital images are they can be easily handled, stored, transmitted, retrieved,
exchanged from one format to other and statistically manipulated which is not possible in case of
analog images. Although our ability increases to display, examine, and analyse the modern remotely
sensed digital image data but these data are also subject to corruption, damage to disk drives, magnetic
fields, and deterioration of the physical media. Sometimes, the user also faces problem in accessing
old data because of obsolescence of the hardware necessary to read the digital data.

In remote sensing, a digital image acquired through different sensors is represented in the form of a
matrix consisting of pixels arranged in rows and columns. Each pixel has a unique location and are
indexed according to their radiometric resolution, for example, pixels of a 8-bit image is indexed
between 0-255. A subset of a multispectral Landsat 8 image is shown below which is also utilized for
different purposes in later sections.

Origin (x,y::0,0) 5×5 window

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 Figure 3. Pixels (8×10) of a part of the Landsat 8 satellite image (Image.tif)
The associated and/or additional information such as metadata of the image is stored either in a
separate file or placed in the data file itself as a header (table 1). The image file contains only pixel
values (table 2).
Table 1. Metadata Information of the Satellite Image as presented in Image.tif

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 File Name Image.tif
Numbe r of Bands 3
Proje ction UTM, WGS84,Zone 43N
Format Unsigned 8-bit
Data Type Continuous
Pixel resolution 30m
Image Width 10 Pixel
Image He ight 8 Pixel
Image Exte nt Upper Left X 657045
(Me te rs) Upper Left Y 3367335
Lower Right X 657345
Lower Right Y 3367095

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 Table 2. Pixel (spatial resolution 30m) data of the part of satellite image (Image.tif) as appeared
in 3 bands (Band 1: Near Infra-Red, Band 2: Red and Band 3: Green)
(X: X-coordinate; Y: Y-coordinate; and DN: Digital Number or Pixel Value)

DN DN DN DN DN DN
X Y X Y
(Band 1) (Band 2) (Band 3) (Band 1) (Band 2) (Band 3)
657060 3367320 84 39 43 657060 3367200 79 71 88
657090 3367320 98 52 71 657090 3367200 64 77 82
657120 3367320 105 74 104 657120 3367200 54 99 93
657150 3367320 121 92 130 657150 3367200 128 63 94
657180 3367320 111 128 160 657180 3367200 203 59 123
657210 3367320 91 110 126 657210 3367200 185 59 114
657240 3367320 109 51 66 657240 3367200 133 49 82
657270 3367320 109 42 64 657270 3367200 154 40 71
657300 3367320 115 45 75 657300 3367200 179 31 77
657330 3367320 97 49 69 657330 3367200 125 122 133
657060 3367290 80 40 39 657060 3367170 76 55 59
657090 3367290 95 70 92 657090 3367170 100 37 49
657120 3367290 111 77 109 657120 3367170 129 21 42
657150 3367290 125 82 125 657150 3367170 145 15 49
657180 3367290 130 97 134 657180 3367170 146 24 48
657210 3367290 123 100 119 657210 3367170 126 46 70
657240 3367290 115 82 94 657240 3367170 123 57 82
657270 3367290 107 73 89 657270 3367170 200 36 90
657300 3367290 112 50 70 657300 3367170 255 12 81
657330 3367290 93 38 56 657330 3367170 114 24 52
657060 3367260 98 53 76 657060 3367140 55 52 40
657090 3367260 102 74 102 657090 3367140 80 34 29
657120 3367260 115 83 117 657120 3367140 121 3 1
657150 3367260 145 72 116 657150 3367140 132 6 17
657180 3367260 166 62 116 657180 3367140 121 33 58
657210 3367260 145 73 110 657210 3367140 85 61 63
657240 3367260 123 56 82 657240 3367140 125 89 118
657270 3367260 108 122 132 657270 3367140 164 78 126
657300 3367260 114 121 137 657300 3367140 169 71 106
657330 3367260 94 97 102 657330 3367140 86 59 67
657060 3367230 95 59 83 657060 3367110 0 80 43
657090 3367230 84 78 94 657090 3367110 17 66 31
657120 3367230 59 114 119 657120 3367110 114 0 0
657150 3367230 103 105 124 657150 3367110 115 9 16
657180 3367230 194 60 114 657180 3367110 103 30 59
657210 3367230 173 77 124 657210 3367110 68 46 33
657240 3367230 132 45 75 657240 3367110 134 111 142 9
657270 3367230 117 80 99 657270 3367110 158 88 131
657300 3367230 101 163 183 657300 3367110 153 44 55
657330 3367230 106 255 255 657330 3367110 101 88 94
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 The digital image processing is a big domain. The tools and technology for data acquisition is different
for different applications. Here, in the forthcoming sections we will be describing only major
processing stages of digital images that are commonly used in the field of remote sensing.
4. Image Acquisition
The reflected energy acquisition from the Earth's surface is measured by imaging sensors that has a
capability to digitize the signal collected by the sensor in its Video and Digital camera. The sensors are
mounted on an aircraft or spacecraft platforms. In earlier days, the conventional camera and analog-
to-digital converters were there to acquire an image. A digital image can be also be produced from
papers using either a CCD camera or a scanner. It is important to mention here that in remote sensing
an imaging system is a complex system where reflection or scattering of energy from the Earth's
surface, followed by transmission through the atmosphere to sensors, and the data transmission from
sensor to ground station on the Earth's surface where after an initial pre-processing such as volts to DN
conversion, removing of noises, resampling and others, the data is ready in an image format to be
utilized for different purposes such as land use/land cover study, disaster monitoring, environmental
pollution study etc. It is well known that the data are recorded in optical as well as microwave spectral
regions through both active and passive sensing and hence are delivered in to distributed spectral
bands (visible, near infra-red, short wave infra-red, microwave) at certain spatial and radiometric
resolution. Generally, the digital images are of four kind: a) Binary, b) Grayscale [0 to 255; black to
white], c) True color or RGB [ 0 to 255 ] (such as 24-bit color images), and d) Indexed. Further, data
acquired and delivered in raster and vector format with additional information in a metadata form.
The digital images obtained from multispectral sensors are arranged in different spectral bands and are
represented in a matrix form (figure 4).

f(x,y)
Pixels
1
Scan Bands
2
Lines
3

Features Elements

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 Figure 4. Structure of a Multispectral Image and feature elements

The digital data are for storing purpose are organized in the following three formats. An image, for
example, consisting of three bands of same resolution can be visualized as three superimposed images
with corresponding pixels in one band registering exactly to those in the other bands. The data formats
are:

Band Interleaved by Pixel (BIP)

This is one of the initial formats for digital data. In this, the data are organized in sequence values for
line 1, pixel 1, band 1; then for line 1, pixel 1, band 2; then finally for line 1, pixel 1, band 3. Next are
the three bands for line 1, pixel 2, and so on. In this way, the pixel values (of pixel 1) for all three
bands are written followed by the values for the next pixels (pixel 2, pixel 3 and so on) are
represented. This arrangement is advantageous for many analyses in which the pixel value (DN) vector
is queried or required to calculate another quantity. The disadvantage with this image format is that it
becomes bulky while displaying.

Band Interleaved by Line (BIL)

The BIL treat each line of the data as a separate unit. In sequence, the data are arranged as line 1 for
band 1, line 1 for band 2, line 1 for band 3, line 2 for band 1, line 2 for band 2, line 2 for band 3 and so
on. In this way, each line is represented in all three bands before the next line is encountered. A
common variation in the BIL format is to group lines in sets of 3 or 7, for example, rather than to
consider each single line as the unit.

Band Sequential (BSQ)

In BSQ, all the data for band 1 are written in sequence, followed by all data for band 2, and so on. In
this, each band is treated as a separate unit. This is a most commonly applied image format since it
presents the data which closely matches the data structure used for display and analysis.

5. Image Pre-processing
Image Pre-processing is a process to enhance the image in order to make it suitable for further
processing. It includes mainly radiometric and geometric corrections.

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 5.1 Geometric Corrections
The geometric distortions in the remotely sensed images is inherent in nature and is depend on the
manner in which they are acquired. It is to be noted that the Earth's geometry is three-dimensional and
spherical in shape and therefore, transformations of remotely sensed image becomes necessary to map
the curved Earth's surface to a two-dimensional plane. The geometric distortions in the images occurs
due to several reasons which can be broadly classified into two categories: systematic or predictable
errors and nonsystematic or random errors. The source of systematic or internal errors are: geometric
distortion in the image due to terrain effects (elevation differences); cross-scan geometric distortion
due to skew in ground swath at the time of scanning (by the time ground swath takes place the ground
track changes due to movement of space-/air-craft); along scan geometric distortion due to changing
mirror scan rate at the time of scan; panoramic distortion - the ground area imaged is proportional to
the tangent of the scan angle rather than to the angle itself, and since data are sampled at regular
intervals, this produces along scan distortion, particularly where instantaneous field of view (IFOV) is
larger causing imaged ground area at the extremities of the scan larger laterally than the region sensed
at nadir giving a compression of the image data towards its edges; along-track scale distortion is
caused when platform speed changes resulting in the change in the ground track covered by successive
mirror scan; the simultaneous satellite scanning towards west-east with Earth rotation in North-South
results in a shift of ground swath causing along-track distortion. The platform instability while
scanning results in nonsystematic or external errors. This is caused by: platform attitude (roll, yaw and
pitch) changes during forward motion and this leads to image rotation and image displacement along-
track and across track while scanning (figure 5a-5c); change in the remote sensing platform altitude
causes the change in scale at constant angular IFOV and field of view (figure 5d). The above
mentioned geometric distortions can be rectified using the methods given below.

(a) Pitch (b) Roll (c) Yaw (d) Altitude

Figure 5. Effect of platform attitude errors
All the remote sensing application requires planimetrically correct versions of remotely captured
images so that they will match to other imagery and to maps and will provide the basis for accurate

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 measurements of distance and area. There are two techniques that can be used to correct the various
types of geometric distortions present in digital image data: one is orbital geometry modelling and the
other one, rather used in many image processing, is the transformation based on ground control points
(GCPs) (Sunar and Özkan, 2000). The GCPs are identified spectrally distinct areas as small as a few
pixels denoted as image coordinates. The examples are road intersections, distinctive water bodies,
edges of land-cover parcels, stream junctions, and other similar features. To interrelate the
geometrically correct (map) coordinates and the distorted image coordinates, a coordinate
transformation is performed by applying a least-squares regression analysis to the set of GCPs and
determining the coefficients of the transformation matrix for linear or nonlinear transformations. It is
to be noted here that as the number of GCPs is increased, registration error decreases. After calculating
the transformation coefficients, various resampling methods such as nearest neighbour, bilinear or
cubic convolution can be used to determine the pixel values to fill into the corrected output image file
from the original distorted image file.
5.1.1 Georegistration and Georeferencing
The geometric registration or georegistration involves identifying several image coordinates - row and
column, or GCPs in the distorted image and link them to their true positions in a target map or ground
coordinates such as latitude-longitude using transformation function (parameters) that basically relates
the coordinates of two systems. The true ground coordinates are typically measured from a target map,
either in paper or digital format. The target map could be a topographic or any other map that has been
transformed to the wanted map projection system before. This is called as image-to-map registration.
Geometric registration may also be performed by registering one (or more) images to another image,
instead of to geographic coordinates. This is called image-to-image registration and is often done prior
to performing various image transformation procedures, which involve comparing images from
different sensors or dates. One more important concept with respect to geometry of satellite image is
rectification. Rectification is the process by which the geometry of an image area is made planimetric
(Haralick, 1973). The accuracy of the registration at each GCP after registration is measured in terms
of the location error which is the root mean square error (RMSE) - the standard deviation of the
difference between actual positions of GCPs and their new calculated positions (i.e., after
registration). These differences between measured and transformed GCPs coordinates are known as
residual error or simply residuals. Usually RMSE is reported in units of image pixels for both north–
south and east–west directions. If analysts wish to assess the overall accuracy of the registration, some
of the GCPs should be withheld from the registration procedure and then used to evaluate its success.
There is another term called geocoding which is georeferencing with subsequent resampling and
includes the two step process: i) each new raster pixel is projected using transformation function onto
the original image and ii) a digital number for the new pixel is determined and stored.
5.1.2 Transformation
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 Image transformation is an integral of georeferencing and involves two steps: i) selection of suitable
transformation method and ii) determination of the transformation parameters. The polynomial
transformation is a general type of transformation that involves 1st, 2nd and nth order of transformation.
The 1st order polynomial transformation relates map coordinates (x,y) with image coordinates (m,n) in
the following manner:
x = a+bm+cn (1)
y = d+em+fn (2)
The six transformation parameters (a to f) in the above two equations (1st order polynomial) is
determined by a required number of GCPs (three) using a least squares adjustments for overall best fit
of image and map. For the 2nd and 3rd order polynomial a minimum number of GCP is six and ten,
respectively. An error of transformation is calculated and overall transformation accuracy is
determined as variances or RMSE in both x- and y-direction and in terms of an overall RMSE. It is
important to mention here that RMSE conveys an overall accuracy but does not indicate which part of
the image is accurately transformed and which are not. It is also important to note that RMSE is valid
only for the area bounded by GCPs and therefore, its selection should be well distributed and includes
the locations near the edges of the image.
5.1.3 Resampling
Image resampling is a process of interpolation to bring an image into registration with another image
or a planimetrically correct map. Resampling scales, rotates, translates, and performs related
manipulations as necessary to bring the geometry of an uncorrected image to match a particular
reference image of desired properties.
The computationally efficient and preferred resampling approach is a nearest-neighbor in which each
“corrected” pixel is assigned the value from the nearest “uncorrected” pixel. The advantages of this
approach is its ability to preserve the original values of the unaltered image.
A relatively more complex resampling approach is bilinear interpolation where a value is calculated
for each output pixel based on a weighted average of the four nearest input pixels. While output value
calculation, a nearer pixel value is given a greater influence than a more distant pixels. Because each
output value is based on several input values, the output image will not have the unnaturally blocky
appearance compare to some nearest-neighbor images. The image therefore has a more “natural” look.
However, there are important changes. First, because bilinear interpolation creates new pixel values,
the brightness values in the input image are lost. The analyst may find that the range of brightness
values in the output image differs from those in the input image. Such changes to digital brightness
values may be significant in later processing steps. Second, because the resampling is conducted by
averaging over areas (i.e., blocks of pixels), it decreases spatial resolution by a kind of “smearing”
caused by averaging small features with adjacent background pixels.
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 Another relatively complex resampling method is cubic convolution. Cubic convolution uses a
weighted average of values within a neighborhood that extends about two pixels in each direction,
usually encompassing 16 adjacent pixels. Typically, the images produced by cubic convolution
resampling are much more attractive than those of other procedures, but the data are altered more than
are those of nearest-neighbor or bilinear interpolation, the computations are more intensive, and the
minimum number of GCPs is larger.
5.2.Radiometric corrections
It include correcting for sensor irregularities and unwanted sensor or atmospheric noise causing visible
errors in the raw data and converting the data so they accurately represent the reflected or emitted
radiation measured by the sensor. The radiometric problems in the data are mainly of three kinds:
Periodic Line Dropouts, Line stripping and Random noise or spike corrections.

5.2.1 Periodic Line Dropouts

In this, one of the detectors of the sensor either gives wrong data or stop functioning. For example,
Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) has 16 detectors per band (channel) except thermal
channel. In this, every sixth scan line has a string of zeros which plots as a black line on the image.
The first step in the radiometric correction or restoration process is to measure the average DN value
per scan line for the entire scene. The average DN value for each scan line is then compared with this
scene average. Any scan line deviating from the average by more than a designated threshold value is
identified as defective. In the next step, the defective lines are replaced. In this, for each pixel in a
defective line, an average DN is calculated using DNs for the corresponding pixel on the preceding
and succeeding scan lines. The average DN is substituted for the defective pixel. The resulting image
is a major improvement, although every sixth scan line consists of artificial data. This restoration
process is equally effective for random line dropouts that do not follow a systematic pattern.
5.2.2 Line stripping
It is possible that with time the response of some detectors of a band may shift to higher or lower
levels. As a result of which every scan line recorded by that detector is brighter or darker than the
other lines. This defect is known as periodic line striping. This can be understood by an example in
which for example, if every second line (detector number 2) has this defect, i.e. 'second-line striping'
where every second line of that detector has a brightness offset like the second line can have digital
value twice that of the other detectors (lines), causing every second scan line to be twice as bright as
the scene average.
For this problem, one of the radiometric correction or restoration method is to plot equal number of
histograms for the DNs recorded by each detector (for e.g. 16 histograms for 16 detectors). A

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 comparison of these histograms with a histogram for the entire scene can be made. Then, for each
detector the mean and standard deviation are adjusted to match values for the entire scene.
Alternatively, the DNs of detector number 2 can be altered by using any arithmetic operator by a
single factor to produce the corrected values from which the restored image is plotted.
In another restoration method, a histogram of DNs for each of the 16 detectors if first plotted. Then
deviations in mean or median values for the histograms are used to recognize and determine
corrections for detector differences.
5.2.3 Random noise or spike corrections
The line dropouts and line striping are the form of nonrandom noise in the image that may appear.
Random noise occurs in situations where individual pixels with DNs are much higher or lower than
the surrounding pixels. In the image these pixels produce bright and dark spots that spoil the image
quality. Therefore, the random noise requires more distinguished restoration method. These spots can
be removed by digital filters such as moving average filter.

6. Image Enhancement
The purpose of image enhancement is to prepare the image more interpretable for a particular
application and/or feature extraction. The image enhancement techniques can be classified in many
ways. In contrast enhancement or global enhancement, the raw data is transformed by using the
statistics computed over the entire image. The examples of contrast enhancement techniques are linear
contrast stretch, histogram equalized stretch and piece-wise contrast stretch. On the other hand, spatial
or local enhancement considers the local conditions only and these can vary considerably over an
image. The examples of spatial enhancement techniques are image smoothing and sharpening filters.

6.1 Contrast Enhancement

Contrast enhancement involves changing the original values so that more of the available range is
used, thereby increasing the contrast between targets and their backgrounds. The contrast
enhancements, thus, utilizes image histogram to be stretched over the entire grey range. A histogram is
a graphical representation of the amount of DN values distributed over an entire image, for example
the amount (frequency) of DN value 10 (x-axis) is 10000 pixels (y-axis) in an image. For a 8-bit
image, the DN ranges in between 0 to 255 (or black to white). Commonly, the histogram is statistically
represented as mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum (range). A narrow histogram, thus,
having small standard deviation, shows a low contrast image where all the DNs are nearby with a
fewer grey values.

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 6.1.1 Linear Contrast Stretch
In a 8-bit image, a DN value in the low end of the original histogram is assigned to extreme black (0),
and a value at the high end is assigned to extreme white (255). The remaining pixel values are
distributed (interpolated) linearly between these extremes. One drawback of the linear stretch, is that it
assigns as many display levels to the rarely occurring DN values as it does to the frequently occurring
values. However, linear contrast stretch, putting (min, max) at (0,255) in most cases still produces a
rather dull image. Even though all gray shades of the display are utilized, the bulk of the pixels are
displayed in mid gray. This is caused by the more or less normal distribution, within the minimum and
maximum values in the tail of the distribution. For this reason it is common to cut off the tails of the
distribution at the lower and upper range (usually be defining the size of the tails by their percentage
from the total).
6.1.2 Histogram Equalization Stretch
It is a non-linear transformation of image pixels where the original histogram is being readjusted to
create a uniform pixel density along the horizontal grey value (DN) axis. This involves two steps: i) it
computes the histograms of the original image and the cumulative frequency density percentage and ii)
computation of transformation function based on which the contrast manipulation takes place in the
output scene. Thus, in this method, both the shape and the extent of the histogram is taken into
consideration. The underlying principle is based upon the assumption that each histogram class in the
displayed image must contain an approximately equal number of pixel values, so that the histogram of
these displayed values are uniform throughout the classes, and certain adjacent grey values can be
group. Due to this reason, the number of grey levels in the enhanced image is less than the number of
grey levels in the original image.
6.1.3 Piece-wise Linear Stretch
This method is similar to the linear contrast stretch, but the linear interpolation of the output values is
applied between user defined DN values. This method is useful to enhance only a certain land cover
type, for example water. The data values for this feature are in the range of 5 to 18, and in order to be
able to discriminate as much as possible, it is wise to use all available gray levels for this feature only.
In this way detailed differences within the feature of interest appear, where as the remaining features
are assigned to a single gray tone.

6.2 Spatial Filtering

In spatial filtering operation the image is divided into its constituent spatial frequencies - number of
changes in brightness value per unit distance for any particular part of an image, and selectively
altering certain spatial frequencies to emphasize some image features. Thus, spatial filters are designed

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 to highlight or suppress specific features in an image based on their spatial frequency. Spatial
frequency is related to the concept of image texture. A 'rough' textured areas of an image, where the
tonal changes are dramatic over a small area, have high spatial frequencies, while "smooth" areas with
few changes in tone over several pixels, have low spatial frequencies.
The filtering procedure involves 'moving window' concept of a few pixels in (kernel) size like 3x3 or
5x5 (figure 3) over each pixel in the image, applying a mathematical calculation (or convolution) using
the pixel values under that window by assigning a weight to each pixel in the window, and replacing
the central pixel with the new value. The window is moved along in both the row and column
dimensions one pixel at a time and the calculation is repeated until the entire image has been filtered
and a "new" image has been generated. By varying the calculation performed and the weightings of
the individual pixels in the filter window, filters can be designed to enhance or suppress different types
of features. It is to be noted here that in a moving window concept for the pixels along the border of
the image to be in act as a centre pixel, the border pixels are duplicated temporarily during convolution
process. Essentially, all the filtering operation calculate the 'gain' (sum of the kernel values)and
multiplies the weighted or assigned kernel value with it:

(3)

and in the section 4.2.1, the value of 0.11 with 0.055 as below
4.2.1 Low-Pass or Low-Frequency Filter
For example, by applying averaging filter for the kernel pixels given in table 3, we get the gain as
0.055.
(i.e. the value 0.11 is replaced with 0.055).

6.2.1 Low-Pass or Low-Frequency Filter

The low-pass filters block the high spatial frequency details, thereby allowing to appear only those
pixels where there are small or fewer tonal variation over several pixels, i.e. pixels having low spatial
frequencies. In this way, the low-frequency filter evaluates a particular input pixel brightness value
and the pixels surrounding the input pixel, and outputs a new brightness value which is the mean of
this convolution. Thus, the low-pass filters using an averaging option 'smoothen' the image. For
example, by applying averaging filter for the kernel pixels given in table 3, we get the gain as 0.11.
The other view of the smoothing operation is that it blur the image, mainly at the edges of the objects.
The size of the kernel also affect the degree of smoothing. The larger the size of the moving window
is, the more blurred will be the output image. Therefore, contrast stretching is necessary after a
filtering operation to utilize the full dynamic range of gray values.

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 Table 3. Kernel filter pixel values 2 2 2
2 2 2
2 2 2

To minimize the high degree of blurring in the image, it is important that a larger pixel value be
assigned to the centre pixel. For example, if we replace the centre pixel value (2) with 4 by
multiplying it with two, then the gain for the resulting kernel would be 0.05.
6.2.2 High-Pass or High-Frequency Filter
A simple high pass filter works by subtracting a low pass filtered image (pixels by pixel) from the
unprocessed original image. The high-pass filters block the low spatial frequency details, thereby
allowing to appear only those pixels where there are large or more tonal variation over a few pixels
distance only, i.e. pixels having high spatial frequencies, thereby emphasizing edges. In this way, the
high-frequency filter evaluates a particular input pixel brightness value and its adjacent pixels, and
outputs a new brightness value which is the mean of this convolution. Often, the difference between
the centre pixel value and its neighbouring pixel values results in edge detection. Thus, high centre
pixel value than its corresponding neighbours is more suitable for the result. Alternatively, the edging
result can also be enhanced by converting the neighbourng pixel values to negative (table 4). The gain
for the resulting kernel would be 0.25. The output high-pass filtered image can be used as an aid
(another band) during the classification of images. Some of the known high-pass filters are Laplacian
edge enhancement filter, Sobel edge detection filters etc.
Table 4. Kernel filter pixel values for edge enhancement
-2 -2 -2
-2 20 -2
-2 -2 -2

Laplacian Edge Enhancement filter

The Laplacian filter calculate the difference between the DN value of the central pixel and the average
of the DN values of four adjacent pixels located horizontally and vertically. The sum of all elements
within the mask is zero (table 5b).
Table 5. Modified Laplacian filtering operation
a. Input Image b. Laplacian filter c. Output Image

a1 a2 a3

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 a4 x a5 0 -1 0 a1 -a2 a3
a6 a7 a8 -1 4 -1 -a4 y -a5
0 -1 0 a6 -a7 a8

The above in equation form is written as:

y = (x-a2) + (x-a7) + (x-a4) + (x-a5) (4)
Sobel Edge Enhancement filter
The Sobel filter computes the gradient (slope) horizontally and vertically. In this, two high-frequency
filters are being calculated in two different directions. In the vertical filter, the kernel values are
basically rotated 900 to the horizontal kernel values (table 6).
Table 6. Sobel filtering operation
a. Horizontal Kernel (kx) b. Vertical Kernel (ky)

1 0 -1 1 2 1
2 0 -2 0 0 0
1 0 -1 -1 -2 -1

The output images are:

x = the resulting image after applying kx to the input image pixel values in the window
y = the resulting image after applying ky to the input image pixel values in the window
The resultant x and y images (pixel values) are then squared and then square root of their sum is being
calculated to produce a final image (z).

(5)

7. Image Transformation
Essentially, image transformation involves the generation of a 'new image' from two or more sources.
The source could be a single image involving two or more spectral bands. The resulting image could
be produced after using multitemporal-multispectral image data of the same area. The operation may
involve simple arithmetic operations to a more complex statistical calculations.

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 7.1 Spectral Image Ratioing or Image division
Image division is one of the most commonly applied image transformation technique which reveal the
fine variation in spectral responses (DN value) of the planetary features observed in different image
bands. A fair example of ratioing is observed in determining the presence and health of the vegetation
by utilizing the DNs of near-infra red (NIR) (0.7-1.3 µm) and red (R) (0.6-0.7 µm) bands as the fact is
in the former one reflectance from vegetation is highest and lowest in the 0.5-0.7 µm range of visible
spectrum in the case of later one. Mathematically, the ratio function in general form can be given as:

(6)

where, ORV = output ratio value for the pixel at row i and column j; DNi,j,a and DNi,j,b = pixel
(reflectance) value at the same location in band a and band b, respectively.
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Different features on the earth's surface has different spectral reflectance behavior and this concept is
well utilized in the case of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). NDVI is an example of
more complex band ratioing concept where sums of and differences between two spectral bands is
used in the form of an index. As stated above, in this NIR and R bands are being used as two distinct
spectral region for monitoring vegetation health. Apart from NDVI, there are other two simple indices.
These indices are given below in equation form:
(7)

(8)

(9)

It is to be noted here that the computations in the above three equations are being done in each
corresponding pixels for against their values (DNs). Here, in case of NDVI, the difference is basically
'normalized' by dividing by the sum of the two DN values (of two bands). An example case of the
NDVI for figure 3 (image.tif) is computed from DN values as given in table 2 for each pixel for the
entire image and the output NDVI values as computed is given in table 7. It is evident from the table 7
is that after computation the raw NDVI value ranges from -1 to +1. The NDVI range is symmetrical
around zero (NIR = R).
Table 7. NDVI values of the above depicted satellite image (Image.tif) ranging from -1 to +1
NDVI NDVI NIR- NDVI
45
NIR- 123
NIR+R 0.365854 NIR-
-14 230
NIR+R -0.06087 R 122 170
NIR+R 0.717647
R46 150 0.306667 R -7 235 -0.02979 80 172 0.465116
31 179 0.173184 -3 191 -0.01571 66 180 0.366667
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 29 213 0.13615 36 154 0.233766 164 236 0.694915
-17 239 -0.07113 6 162 0.037037 243 267 0.910112
-19 201 -0.09453 -55 173 -0.31792 90 138 0.652174
58 160 0.3625 -2 208 -0.00962 3 107 0.028037
67 151 0.443709 134 254 0.527559 46 114 0.403509
70 160 0.4375 696 250 0.384 118 124 0.951613
48 146 0.328767 87 177 0.491525 126 138 0.913044
40 120 0.333333 37 197 0.187817 88 154 0.571429
25 165 0.151515 -62 264 -0.23485 24 146 0.164384
34 188 0.180851 -149 361 -0.41274 36 214 0.168224
43 207 0.20773 8 150 0.053333 86 242 0.355372
33 227 0.145374 -13 141 -0.0922 98 240 0.408333
23 223 0.103139 -45 153 -0.29412 27 145 0.186207
33 197 0.167513 65 191 0.340314 -80 80 -1
34 180 0.188889 144 262 0.549618 -49 83 -0.59036
62 162 0.382716 126 244 0.516393 114 114 1
55 131 0.419847 84 182 0.461539 106 124 0.854839
45 151 0.298013 114 194 0.587629 73 133 0.548872
28 176 0.159091 148 210 0.704762 22 114 0.192983
32 198 0.161616 3 247 0.012146 23 245 0.093878
73 217 0.336406 21 131 0.160305 70 246 0.284553
104 228 0.45614 63 137 0.459854 109 197 0.5533
72 218 0.330275 108 150 0.72 13 189 0.068783
67 179 0.374302 130 160 0.8125

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 7.2 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or Transformation (PCT)
The principal components analysis is a non-parametric, orthogonal linear transformation technique
that help in compressing the dimensionality. For example, it reduces the number of bands (in case of
remote sensing multispectral image bands) in the data in to fewer bands, also called 'components'.
Normally, the multispectral image data is usually strongly correlated from one band to the other. For
example, the visible bands (band 2 and band 3) in the image.tif shows a positive correlation (figure 6a)
and a negative correlation between NIR and visible bands (figure 6b). This can be largely due to
spectral reflectance characteristics (here, pixel value or DN) and the greenness present in the
environment.

a b

Figure 6. Correlation between one band to the other of Image.tif: a) Positive and b) Negative
The trendlines denote the axis along which the values are plotted. The correlation (scatter) plot will
depicts redundancy in information when the pixels values of each band are plotted with the other
bands of Landsat 8. Applying PCA reduces this redundancy and thus, also compact the data to be
investigated. PCA through transformation creates new images from the uncorrelated values of different
images using a linear transformation of correlated variables that correspond to a rotation (of axis of the
spectral space) and translation of the original coordinate system (or pixel values). After rotation, the
length and the direction of the widest transect of the scattered ellipse is calculated. The transect
corresponding to the resulting longest or major axis of the spectral space or ellipse that contains the
new pixel value, is called the first principal component (PC1). Geometrically, PC1 points in the
direction with the largest variance. PC2 being orthogonal or perpendicular to PC1, points to the second
largest variance. For a n-dimensional space (spectral bands), the same pattern is repeated. The
direction (of variation) of the PC1 is called as the first eigenvector, and the variance (or proportionally
the length of the axis of variation) is called as the first eigenvalue. Algebraically, the basis of
eigenvector and eigenvalue is the data's variance-covariance matrix and correlation matrix. The
method also called as eigen vector decomposition (EVD) or spectral decomposition, thus, decomposes
the variance-covariance matrix and correlation matrix of the raw data into matrices of eigenvector and
eigenvalue. The eigenvectors act as weighting coefficients. The transformation basically maximize the
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 amount of information or variance present in the original data, say eleven bands of Landsat 8, into the
fewer number of new components, say three, of which over 90 percent of the information present in
the original eleven bands. The advantage is that PCA operates on all bands together and thus, it
reduces the difficulty of selecting appropriate bands associated with the band ratioing concept. The
major difference between this and other transformation technique is that the new components are
ordered in terms of the decreasing amount of variance (or eigenvalues) explained. Therefore, the later
components describe the minor variations or sometimes noise only. In this way, interpretation and
analysis of data present in the new components is simpler and more efficient. Another benefit of PCA
is that it permits the identification of a set of coefficients that concentrates maximum information in a
resulting single component. The singular value decomposition (SVD) method is a preferred matrix
decomposition algorithm used in PCA for its numerical accuracy. One of the main difference is that
EVD works on the variance-covariance matrix and correlation matrix while SVD operates on the raw
data matrix.

A result after applying the SVD based PCA on the 3-band image (Image.tif) is given below.

PCA Result (SVD)

PC1 PC2 PC3
Standard deviation 168.2622 47.69272 9.04753
Proportion of Variance 0.9232 0.07417 0.00267
Cumulative Proportion 0.9232 0.99733 1.00000

Rotation (n x k) = (3 x 3):
PC1 PC2 PC3
-0.7096016 -0.6835029 0.1711416
-0.4203901 0.6056170 0.6756480
-0.5654536 0.4074946 -0.7170846

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 Figure 7. Graphical display of results obtained after applying SVD based PCA in a 3-band
satellite image (Image.tif).
As indicated above, the result of applying SVD based PCA yield the PC1 containing over 92% of the
information (variance) present in the original three bands followed by PC2 and PC3, respectively, in a
decreasing manner. Thus, the interpreter retains over 92% of the original information in a much more
concise form and avoids the replicated and redundant information. This not only reduced the bulkiness

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 of the data to be analysed but also reduces the time and cost to be exhausted for the analysis. Another
important point of note regarding PCA is that since each resulting component is a linear combination
of the original bands, the interpreter should know the technique to interpret the meaning of new
components.
PCA is useful in a wide range of applications including data exploration and visualisation of
underlying patterns within correlated data sets, decorrelation, detection of outliers, data compression,
feature reduction, enhancement of visual interpretability, improvement of statistical discrimination of
clusters, ecological ordination etc.

8. Image Classification
In remote sensing, the information hidden in multispectral image pixels or band pixels can be
understood in a variety of ways and image classification is one of the those ways. In classification, the
bands are sometimes also called as features, the band pixel value as feature vector and the graph or
plot showing the feature vector as feature space. Image classification is basically about classifying the
'pattern' of rectangular matrix of n-by-n pixels in to classes such as land use/land cover (LU/LC)
classes. The pattern in a multispectral classification will use pixel value or DN. The pixel based
classification groups the similar pixels into classes. This can be performed by simply comparing pixels
values to one another or training the samples of pixels of known identity and then classifying the
pattern based on the training samples. The resulting classes are clusters or regions in a map form, each
of which is identified by a unique color or symbol. In this way, spectral or pixel-based classification,
which is more common, use the pixel information stored in different bands of an image. Whereas the
spatial classification use the spatial relationship of the pixels with its neighboring pixels which may
involve proximity, size, shape, directionality, texture etc. It is important to mention here that there is
no single 'right' approach for image classification, but it depends on the objective of the classification,
nature of the data to be classified and available resources. A classification can be divided into four
phases: training phase where number of classes are defined, analysis of training statistics, assignment
where every pixel is included in any of the defined classes, and map output and assessment that may
include map, table etc. It is also essential to perform geometric and radiometric calibration before
classification. The image classification technique can be broadly categorized in to two: supervised and
unsupervised.

8.1 Supervised Classification

In this, the user ´supervises´ the classification method that uses algorithms employing the pixel value
for constructing the particular numerical relationship for each class like water, agriculture land, built-
up area, forest etc. In this classification, the first phase is 'training phase' in which user 'trains' or guide
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 the classification algorithm by assigning a selected number of representative pixels (or training pixels)
from a homogeneous area to a particular class they belong to. For this, the user should be familiar with
image interpretation technique or should have at least a prior knowledge through which (s)he identifies
the pixel(s) of a particular LU/LC class. The training samples, also called as seeds or area of interest
(AOI) or regions of interest (ROI) help in estimating the statistical parameters of the particular
classifier used. These parameters are the properties of probability model (of classifier). These
parameters are sometimes called as 'signature' for the particular class for which they have been
created. The second phase is called as 'classification phase' in which each and every pixel of the entire
image is divided into the assigned classes based on the class-specific signature. After classification, the
pixel is classified in to the class it most probably matches using the chosen classifier algorithm. The
third and final one is 'output phase' in which the result output is transferred in a thematic map or
tabulated or digital data (ASCII, DAT, SHAPE etc.) form. Depending upon the requirement or end-use
purpose, the result is either directly used or passed to the other systems as an input.
There are a number of statistical methods used as a supervised classifiers, each one having merits and
demerits. The commonly applied methods are: maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) or estimation
(MLE), minimum distance method, parallelepiped method, Bayesian's method, decision tree
classification, fuzzy classification, and artificial neural network (ANN) method. The principles and
working algorithms of all these classifiers are now out of the scope of this work and can be referred to
any standard text books on remote sensing. However, seeing the wide use of MLC in classification, a
description about the algorithm is given below.

Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) or estimation (MLE)

MLC is a supervised statistical approach and is based on two principles:
i. MLC considers both the variances and covariances of the class signatures when assigning
each pixel to one of the LU/LC classes represented in the signature file.
ii. It is assumed that the pixel in each feature class sample (AOI) in multidimensional space
are normally or equally distributed or is Gaussian (i.e. probability of occurrence is equal)
which convey that a class can be described by mean vector and variance-covariance
matrix.
Given the above two characteristics for each cell value, the probability using the Bayes' theorem is
estimated for each class to determine the membership of the pixels to the class. Then, each pixel is
classified to the class to which it has the highest probability of being a member.
The Bayes' classification is performed according to
x ϵ ωi, if p(ωi|x) > p(ωj|x) for all j ≠ i (10)
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 where, ωi represent the spectral classes (e.g. water, agriculture, forest etc.), i = 1,..n. x
is the pixel vector or DN or brightness value of the pixel in a multispectral space.
The probability p(ωj|x) denotes the likelihood of a pixel vector x belongs to class ωi. According to the
Bayes' theorem, therefore, the pixel at x belongs to spectral class ωi if p(ωj|x) is largest for that spectral
class. The probability is computed using the normal probability density function (PDF) to classify an
unidentified pixel vector x by computing the probability of the x belonging to each class and then
assigning the pixel to the class for which it has maximum probability. The normal PDF is calculated
as:
2
y  f ( x | x, ) 
1
e - (x  2x )
i

 2pi 2 (11)

where, x = mean of DN values of each feature class in the training dataset;

σ = standard deviation of DN values of each feature class in the training dataset
x = A single pixel of whole image dataset of one band
The result obtained after applying supervised approach on the satellite image (figure 8a) using MLC
method is shown in figure 8c.
8.2 Unsupervised Classification
The unsupervised classifiers, unlike the supervised classifiers, do not uses training of images. Rather,
it identifies the agglomeration or clustering of image pixels based upon similarity measures. The
commonly applied measure is distance measure which often include Euclidean distance. The classifier
segment the whole image randomly in to n number of classes which is assigned by the user. Here, the
major role of human lies in the later half of the process once the initial classification step is over. The
result obtained after initial classification are examined for corrective measures. The interpreter verifies
the output classes by overlaying the map over image or through ground truthing report. In case of any
required changes in the map, modification is done either by reclassification by merging or splitting of
classes or by direct alteration of the boundary of the class clusters in to the appropriate classes. Once
the corrective measures are done, a final unsupervised classified map is produced which is free or
minimal from errors. Like in supervised classification, here also different classifiers are used for
partitioning the pixels, for example, k-means, c-means, hierarchical clustering etc. Seeing the wide use
of k-means algorithm in unsupervised classification, a description about the same is given below.

k-means

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 The k-means is a numerical, unsupervised and non-deterministic method. The k-means treats each
observation in the input data as an object having a location in the space. It is also advantageous to
implement k-means since it uses the actual observations of the objects (rather than the larger set of
dissimilarity measures), and not just their proximities unlike the hierarchical clustering based
approaches. The objective of the k-means method is to minimise the total intra-cluster variance or the
squared error function. In this algorithm, the sum of absolute differences between each point and its
closest centre in Euclidian 3-D space is minimised. Each centroid is the mean of the points in that
cluster. This objective can be expressed in the following equation:

k 2
D   xi  C j (12)
i 1 xi Ck

where, there are k clusters Ck with iterations i beginning from 1 to k, D is the total intra-cluster
variance or the squared error function, xi is the data point (vector data) and Cj is the mean vector or
cluster centre. The minimum computational complexity of the k-means algorithm is O(ndCT), where n
is the number of d-dimensional pattern, d is the number of feature vectors, C is the number of assigned
clusters and T is the number of iterations.
A result obtained after applying unsupervised approach using Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis
(ISODATA) clustering technique is shown in figure 8d.

(a) Training samples (AOI) on Satellite Image (b) Hybrid Classified Map

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 (c) Supervised Classified Map (d) Unsupervised Classified Map
Figure 8. (a) Training samples on Satellite image, both were Open Forest
used in supervised image classification procedures, and (b) to Dense Forest
(d) Maps obtained after applying different classification
scheme Agriculture

Open Area
ISODATA clustering is a variant of k-means. In this, splitting and merging of the cluster occurs when
Semi Opencomputationally
the cluster variance is above a pre-determined threshold. The ISODATA, although Area
more intensive than the k-means algorithm, does not solve for a pre-determined number of clusters. It
is quite more adaptive as it try hard to optimize a cluster solution.

8.3 Hybrid Classification

A third approach is the hybrid classification strategy which uses the unsupervised spectral class
statistics to 'train' the pixels in supervised analyses. Here also, user's knowledge of image
interpretation or ground truth or other reference data is used to find out the homogeneous spectral
classes or clusters. In this way, this approach include methods that combine the statistics generated
from supervised and unsupervised trainings incorporating both thematic and spectral meaning.
A result obtained after applying hybrid classification strategy is shown in figure 8b.

8.4 Classification Accuracy

Before delivered the final output after the classification process, it is important for the interpreter to
know the correctness of the deliverables. The correctness therefore mean that what level of agreement
is exist between a known or assumed to be correct image or information and the resultant classified
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 image. It is expected that increase in accuracy will lower the bias, i.e. the estimated data or
information is close to an accepted reference value. However, it is important for a user to know what
level of precision is required in the deliverables. An accuracy of 99% in separating built-up area and
forest is a wasteful when the purpose is to know the distributions of forest stands of evergreen and
deciduous types.
The classification accuracy is done by checking randomly sampled pixels against manually interpreted
images. It is further of two kind: Producer and User Accuracy.
Producer accuracy, which is related to omission errors, shows that proportion of the reference sample
of a particular category is correctly classified in the map.

(13)

User accuracy, related to commission error, is the proportion of samples classified as a particular
category in the map which are correctly classified.

(14)

Similar to accuracy, there are two kind of errors: Omission and Commission. The omission error
denote the unlinked reference features, where as commission error, also called as false detection, is the
candidate features that could not be linked to the reference features.
Similarly, root mean square error (RMSE) can also be determined.

 
2 
n  x  x  where, x = observed value, and xi = reference value. (15)
RMSE    i
1 n and misclassification (due to confusion between the classes) for each class is
The overalli errors
 form of a matrix, which is called as error matrix. The misclassification is caused by
represented in the
the classifier algorithm due to a statistical confusion for assignment of pixel vector of features in to a
particular class. This confusion occurs due to close matching of pixel values in each of the bands
(features) for each class. This is the reason why error matrix is also called as confusion matrix. The
error or confusion matrix is consist of n×n array, where n is the number of classes. An example of error
matrix is shown below.

Table 8. Example of an Error or Confusion Matrix

Classification Reference Data

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 data Open Dense Agriculture Open Semi-open area Row total
forest forest Area
Open forest 16 1 3 0 2 22
Dense forest 1 3 0 0 0 4
Agriculture 5 0 8 0 2 15
Open Area 0 0 0 14 2 16
Semi-open 0 0 2 3 18 23
area
Column total 22 4 13 17 24 80

After preparation of the error matrix, a parameter called as KHAT or Cohen's Kappa statistics is used
to determine whether one error matrix is significantly different from another. The coefficient measures
the difference between the actual difference in the error matrix or observed accuracy (or true
agreement) and the chance agreement. The observed accuracy or true agreement is the agreement
between remotely sensed classification and the reference data. The chance agreement is an agreement
between reference data and a random classifier.

(16)

Thus, when the observed accuracy or true agreement is 1 and chance agreement is 0, the KHAT
approaches 1. This indicates that the classification result is much better than a random classification. If
f KHAT is zero, then there is no difference between the classification result and a random
classification. If KHAT is less than zero, the classification result is worse than a random classification.

9. Applications of Digital Image Processing

Digital image processing techniques has a wide range of applications. One of the most important
application of image processing techniques is examining the applicability of images before they are
being utilized for the purpose, digitally correcting errors and removal of errors in the raw image,
removal of error or noise before the corrected image is being utilized for the assigned purpose. The
techniques of digital image processing helps in detection and extraction of information on: a) physical
characteristics/processes such as mineral resources, soil, landform, quantity and quality of water
bodies, flood, erosion etc., b) Biological conditions such as forests, crops, wild animals etc., c)

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 Cultural factors such as land use, recreational activities, cultural status (life style, health and safety,
population density), man-made facilities and activities (structure, utility networks, waste disposal) etc.,
d) Ecological relationships such as eutrophication, salinization etc., e) modification in regimes such as
alteration (change of habitats, change in drainage), land transformation, land alteration, resource
renewal and extraction, accidents (oil spills and leaks) etc. One the results are ready, the digital image
processing techniques also study the validity (and accuracy) of the results. Apart from the above
mentioned applications, the techniques are also widely used in medical image processing and extra-
planetary missions.

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 10. Conclusions
Digital image processing is a process of examining the images for the purpose of extraction of
information hidden in the image form. The digital image processing can be distributed at three levels:
Low level, Medium level and High level. The low level image processing includes image acquisition,
image pre-processing and image classification. The medium level image processing includes
compression and morphological processing of images. The high level image processing includes
image reconstruction, object recognition and image representation and description. The focus of this
chapter is to prepare the readers with fundamental concepts behind digital images and different
processing steps and providing solutions to different problems which a user may encounter from the
beginning itself or in between the processes.
Any image acquired digitally or photographically has a purpose. The images in remote sensing are
acquired using sensors designed with finest technologies. In the beginning, the analyst attempts to
detect and remove the noises present in the image. Then (s)he detect, identify, classify and measure the
physical and cultural objects and/processes in the image. Furthermore, (s)he evaluate their patterns,
and spatial relationship encountered in the image, all in a logical manner. In between the before
mentioned tasks, he faces problems in the images. Sometimes, the data size is too heavy and therefore,
needs compression. Sometime, there is a lot of redundancy in the data and therefore, needs the
removal of repeating information. The solution to these and other problems lies in digital image
processing and here an attempt have been made to unfold some of them. The solution include a wide
range of image processing techniques that have been developed to aid the interpretation of remotely
sensed data and to extract as much information as possible from the images. The choice of specific
techniques or algorithms to use depends on the objective of individual tasks. For example, in this
chapter, three statistical techniques of satellite image classification (supervised, unsupervised and
mixed classification) have been examined. It has also been shown to the readers that how accuracy
assessment of the resultant output should be done instead of blindly reporting the results.
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