UNIT 11

IMAGE FILTERING AND

BAND RATIOING
Structure_____________________________________________________
11.1 Introduction Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index
Expected Learning Outcomes Normalised Difference Snow Index
11.2 Image Filtering 11.5 Significances of Spectral Indexes
Spatial Filtering 11.6 Activity
Frequency Filtering 11.7 Summary
11.3 Band Ratioing 11.8 Terminal Questions
11.4 Commonly Used Spectral Indices 11.9 References
Simple Ratio Index 11.10 Further/Suggested Readings
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index 11.11 Answers
Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index

11.1 INTRODUCTION
Image filtering and band ratioing are image enhancement processes. In the previous unit, you have
learnt that image enhancement is a technique used to improve the readability and capacity of
remotely sensed images for the extraction of meaningful data by humans.One of the image
enhancement techniques, known as contrast enhancement (also called radiometric enhancement)
is used to increase contrast and brightness of an image for extracting useful information (mostly) by
human interpreters. This technique is discussed in detail in unit 10.
Image filtering and band ratioing are other important techniques of image processing. A satellite
image or picture may be enhanced or modified through the use of filtering. Filtering includes the
image processing steps of edge enhancement, sharpening, and smoothing.
The digital image filtering makes images suitable for land use studies and for extracting many
geological structures.
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The band ratioing technique is used to enhance the spectral difference
between electromagnetic bands by dividing the measure of reflectance for a
pixel in one image band by its geometrically corresponding pixel from another
image band. It is largely used to minimise illumination impacts in
landscape/terrain variation or to highlight objects of interest. In this unit, we will
discuss digital image filtering approaches, basics of band ratioing and
significance of commonly used spectral indices.

Expected Learning Outcomes_______________________

After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 define image filtering and band ratioing;
 discuss common types of image filters;
 apply spatial domain filtering on images;
 apply frequency domain filtering to images;
 elaborate on the principle of band ratioing.
 explore the importance and purpose of different spectral indices.

11.2 IMAGE FILTERING

In simple term, filtering is used to enhance the appearance of an image.Image
filtering is the technique of enhancing or suppressing the tonal changes in an
image, in specific ranges or frequencies of the pixel values. Or, to put it
another way, filtering is the action of enhancing or suppressing certain spatial
variations or pixel digital number (DN) values in a certain way inside a
picture/image. The following are two methods for digitally filtering photographs
that are frequently used:
 Spatial filtering
 Frequency filtering
11.2.1 Spatial Filtering
It is frequently employed for noise reduction and detail extraction. Contrary to
contrast stretching, which affects each individual pixel separately, filtering does
not do this. Each pixel in an image is impacted by its neighbours while filtering.
Information is really moved about the image as a result. The pixels of a picture
are directly utilised in the spatial filtering approach. A mask or kernel is typically
thought of as weights associated with a neighbourhood of spatially adjacent
pixels so that each neighbourhood has a unique central pixel. The mask is
moved across the image so that its centre traverses every pixel.
Moving a "window" of a few pixels in size (e.g., 3x3, 5x5, etc.) across each
pixel in the image, executing a mathematical computation using the pixel
values beneath that window, and replacing the centre pixel with the new value
are common spatial filtering techniques. The calculation is repeated as the
window is advanced by one pixel in both the row and column dimensions,
filtering the entire image and creating a "new" image in the process. Different
filters can be created to enhance or suppress various characteristics by

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changing the values of the window. By effect, spatial filters can be divided into
the following types:
 Smoothing filters,
 Edge enhancement filters and
 Edge filters
i) Smoothing (Low Pass) Filters
These are often referred to as smoothing spatial filters, and they work by
emphasising bigger, more uniform areas of a same tone while suppressing the
minor details in an image. Low-pass filters so typically help to improve the
appearance of an image. Further divisions include order-statistics non-linear
filters and averaging linear filters.
a. Average Linear Filter: It is a linear low pass filter that serves as the
foundation for many smoothing techniques. By averaging close pixels, it is
possible to reduce the inter-pixel variation in values within an image. When
using a low pass filter, the high-frequency information, i.e., rapid intensity
change over short distance in an image is often reduced but the low-
frequency information (minimal intensity variation over several pixels) is
kept in-tact. These filters are employed for noise reduction and rendering a
smooth appearance to the image. An array of ones split by the kernel's
number of components, such as the following 3 by 3 kernel (Fig. 11.1), is an
illustration of an averaging filter.

Fig. 11.1: Averaging filter kernel.

This filter's response is just the average of the pixels in the vicinity of the filter
mask. Consider the following picture patch, which is depicted in Fig. 11.2a. If
the aforementioned kernel is applied to the image's central 3x3 block, we obtain
the low pass filtered output, which is depicted in Fig. 11.2b. 5x5, 7x7 and other
sizes are also possible for the kernel.

10 20 30 40 50 10 20 30 40 50

20 20 60 80 70 20 31 47 52 70

30 60 30 90 20 30 47 61 55 20

40 70 100 40 10 40 62 64 47 10

50 100 80 10 50 50 100 80 10 50

(a) (b)
Fig. 11.2: The logic of applying an average linear filter in an image: a) Input image
before filter; and b) Output image after using an average linear filter.

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Fig. 11.3 demonstrates the effects of applying an averaging filter to a noisy
image. The averaging filter reduces the amount of noise in the image through
smoothing. The majority of noise in an image is an undesired high-frequency
component.

(a)

(b) (c)
Fig. 11.3: Images showing :a) Original image; b) Noise added input image; and c)
Averaging filtered output image.(Source:https://bhuvan-
app1.nrsc.gov.in/imagegallery/bhuvan.html)

b. Order-Statistics Non-linear Filters: These are non-linear spatial filters and

their response relies on rating the pixels in the neighbourhood in order to
identify their order, and then storing the result in an output file / array
corresponding to the position of the centre pixel in the input image. Median
filters are a typical illustration of these filers.

10 20 30 40 50

20 20 60 80 70

30 60 30 90 20

40 70 100 40 10

50 100 80 10 50

Fig. 11.4: A 5x5 image.

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A median filter is used to store the neighbourhood’s median pixel value, or the
centre element once the elements have been sorted, in the output file or array.
In particular, median filters are helpful in reducing impulsive noise, commonly
referred to as salt-and-pepper noise. Grey levels for salt are 255 and for pepper
they are 0. Consider the 5x5 image in Fig. 11.4 as an illustration.
If we apply a 3x3 median filter on the shaded salt noise-affected pixel (255), the
filtered images will be obtained as shown in Fig. 11.5. i.e., its neighbours are
sorted (20, 20, 30, 40, 60, 70, 100, 255), and its median value (40) is obtained
and replaced for the original pixel.

10 20 30 40 50 10 20 30 40 50

20 20 60 80 70 20 20 60 80 70

30 255 30 90 20 30 40 30 90 20

40 70 100 40 10 40 70 100 40 10

50 100 80 10 50 50 100 80 10 50
a) B
(a) (b)
Fig. 11.5: Filtered image obtained after applying a 3x3 median filter on image
shown in Fig. 11.4: a) Neighbourhood of shaded pixel and b) Median is
replaced as 40.

ii) Sharpening Filters

Sharpening filters highlight edges by removing blur. It enhances the grayscale
transition of an image, which is the opposite of image smoothing. The
arithmetic operators of smoothing and sharpening, also verifies this.
Smoothing is based on the weighted summation or integral operation on the
neighbourhood, the sharpening is based on the derivative or finite difference.
There are a couple of filters that can be used for sharpening (Fig. 11.6). One
of the most popular filters is Laplace operator. It is based on second order
differentiation.

(a) (b)

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(c)
Fig. 11.6: Filtering of an image: a) Laplacian filter kernel; b) Input image; and c)
sharpening filter output image (Source: https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/
image gallery/bhuvan.html for a)

11.2.2 Frequency Filtering

Frequency filtering approaches translate a picture/image into the frequency
domain using Fourier analysis, and then apply the filter to the changed image
(Fig. 11.7). It gives a plot of frequencies at every pixel. The main filter
application in the frequency domain is to produce a frequency-enhanced image
(Fig. 11.7).

Fig. 11.7: Schematic showing filtering in frequency domain. (Source: modified after
Gonzales and Woods, 2018)

Frequency filtering is usually of three types as listed below:

 Low pass filter
 High pass filter
 Band pass filter
i) Low Pass Filter
A low pass filter keeps the low-frequency components while filtering out the
high-frequency ones. It is used to amplify low-frequency components while
attenuating high-frequency components to smooth the image (Fig. 11.8).

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According to Fig. 11.8, low pass filtering in the frequency domain works as
follows:
G(u,v) equals H(u,v).F(u,v)
where H(u,v) is the filter transform function and F(u,v) is the Fourier transform
of the original image

Where, where D0 is a positive constant (acts as a cut-off frequency of the filter).

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e)
Fig. 11.8: Schematics showing: a) Perspective view of frequency domain low-
pass filter; b) 2-D image; c) Low pass filter transfer function radial
cross-section; d) Noise added input image; and e) Low pass filtered
output image in frequency domain. (Source: Gonzales and Woods, 2018)

ii) High Pass Filters

A high pass filter keeps the high-frequency components while filtering out the
low-frequency ones. It is used to make the image sharper. In order to
preserve high-frequency components while attenuating low-frequency
components, it sharpens the image.
The following provides the frequency domain high pass filtering mechanism:
H(u,v) = 1 - H'(u,v)
where the high pass filtering Fourier transform is H(u, v) and the low pass
filtering Fourier transform is H'(u, v).
In Fig. 11.9, the low pass output is subtracted from the original image to get
the high pass filter output.
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(a) (b)
Fig. 11.9: Satellite images showing: a) Noise-added input image; and b) Output of
frequency domain high pass filter . (Source:https://bhuvan-
app1.nrsc.gov.in/imagegallery/bhuvan.html)

iii) Band Pass Filter

It is used to maintain the middle range band of frequencies while removing the
extremely low-frequency and extremely high-frequency components. Edges
are improved while noise is also diminished via band pass filtering.

SAQ I
a) Describe various types of image filters.
b) What will happen if you make the low pass kernel larger, from 3x3 to 7x7?

11.3 BAND RATIOING

As stated previously that the band ratioing technique is used to enhance the
spectral difference between electromagnetic bands by dividing the measure of
reflectance for a pixel in one image band by its geometrically corresponding
pixel from another image band (https://support.esri.com/en-us/gis-
dictionary/band-ratio). The pair of bands is so chosen that the reflectance in
one band is much higher than the reflectance in the other band for the same
pixel. It basically involves dividing the digital number of pixels in one picture
band by the digital number of pixels in the other image band, which is an image
modification technique used to improve the contrast between features. There
are certain factors which caused the spectral differences in the brightness
values of the similar surface features as listed below:
 Terrain illumination
 Topographic slope and aspect
 Ground albedo and shadow
 Seasonal variation in the angle and intensity of sunlight
Collectively, these conditions are termed as environmental conditions and may
create serious obstruction to an interpreter or classification algorithm to detect
surface features or land use land cove classes accurately from the satellite
images (Jensen, 2018). In some cases, ratio transformations of images are
used to minimise the effect of the environmental conditions.

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 11.10: True colour and band ratio images. a) Landsat TM true colour
composite (RGB); b) Thematic mapper band (TM) 3/TM4: This ratio
(d)
has defined barren lands and urban area uniquely but it could not
define water body, forests and croplands ;c) TM2/TM3: this ratio has
distinguished croplands, barren lands sharply but it has not
separated croplands, forests and water body. Both forests and water
body have appeared as lighter tone and barren land appeared as dark
tone and it did not enhance urban area. Since chlorophyll has strong
reflectance in the band 2 (0.52 -0.60 um) region and strong absorption
in the band 3 (0.63 -0.69 um) region, vegetation has appeared as
brighter tone; and d) TM3/TM5: This ratio enhanced barren lands,
highways, street patterns within the urban areas and urban built-up or
cemented areas. It could not enhance clear water but it enhanced
turbid water. This ratio is useful for observing differences in water
turbidity. Barren lands, highways, urban and built-up areas have
appeared as lighter tone and forests, water body and croplands
appeared as dark tone.

Ratio also gives unique information which is not present in any single band and
is useful for differentiating among various features such soils and vegetation.
Mathematically, the ratio function can be expressed as:
BVi,j,r = BVi,j,k/BVi,j,l
Where BVi,j,r is the value of output ratio for the pixel at row i and column j
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BVi,j,kand BVi,j,l represent the value of brightness at the same location in band k
and l.
If BVi,j,l is equal to zero, then it would become difficult to compute the ratio. In
this case there are some available alternatives, which used by assigning some
value to BVi,j,l between 0 and 1.
Band ratioing technique is generally applied on a multispectral image. Ratio is
an effective technique for selectively enhancing spectral features (Fig. 11.10).
Ratio images derived from different band pairs are often used to generate ratio
colour composites in a Red, Blue and Green (RGB) display. Many indices, such
as the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) have been developed
based on both differencing and ratio operations.
Band ratio is an effective technique for suppressing topographic shadows. For a
given incident angle of solar radiation, the radiation energy received by a land
surface depends on the angle between the land surface and incident radiation
(Fig. 11.11). Therefore, solar illumination on a land surface varies with terrain
slope and aspect, which results in topographic shadows. In a remotely sensed
image, the spectral information is often occluded by sharp variations of
topographic shadowing. DNs in different spectral bands of a multi-spectral
image are proportional to the solar radiation received by the land surface and
its spectral reflectance.

Fig. 11.11: Ratio of pixel values in NIR region to the corresponding pixel value in
the visible red region of the spectrum. The ratios for the illuminated and
shaded slopes are very similar, although pixel value differs by a factor
of more than two. Hence, an image made up of NIR:R ratio values at
pixel positions will exhibit a much reduced shadow or topographic
effect. (Source: redrawn after Liu and Mason, 2009)

11.4 COMMONLY USED SPECTRAL INDICES

The spectrum characteristics of features are highlighted by spectral indices,
which are mathematical combinations or transformations of bands. By
emphasising feature differences, the indices make them stand out from other
image features. There are many different types of indices, but vegetation
indices are the most used (Table 11.2). This comprises indices to denote water,
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minerals and burned areas, as well as indicators of man-made features. A
minimum of two distinct bands (wavelengths) are needed for the majority of
indices. Two or more of the image's spectral reflectance bands are used as
inputs in a mathematical procedure to calculate the spectral indices. The
derived spectral index represents a new image that emphasises specific land
surface characteristics or features, such as plant, soil, and water, which appear
more clearly than the original input bands.
Table 11.2: Some commonly used vegetation indices.

Vegetation Index Description

Ratio of green leaf scattering in NIR, chlorophyll
Simple ratio index
absorption in red
Normalised difference Normalised difference of green leaf scattering in
vegetation index NIR, chlorophyll absorption in red
Soil adjusted vegetation It is used in areas where vegetative cover is low
index (< 40%)
Atmospherically
An enhancement of NDVI to better account for
resistant vegetation
atmospheric scattering
index
Normalised difference It is used to identify snow cover and is often used
snow index for hydrological forecasting.
11.4.1 Simple Ratio Index
The Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI) or Simple Ratio (SR) is the most basic ratio-
based measure. This index is just the near-infrared (NIR) band reflectance
divided by the red band reflectance, as shown below:
Simple Ratio Index = Near-Infrared band / Red band
Larger SR values represent healthy vegetation, whereas smaller values
represent ice, water or soil. It typically gives a broad indicator of the vegetation,
but it also has a few related issues. First, there's the problem with dividing by
zero. It is not possible to generate an SR value for this pixel if the reflectance
for the red band is 0. The amount of red reflectance can also affect a wide
variety of possible values. It could be challenging to compare values as a result.
The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), developed in response to
these issues.
11.4.2 Normalised Difference Vegetation Index
One of the most widely used vegetation indexes is the Normalised Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI). It is a numerical indicator that uses visible and NIR
bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is mainly adopted to analyse remote
sensing measurements and assess the ‘greenness’ of the target. NDVI is a very
important tool to study vegetation from remote sensing satellite as most of the
multispectral satellite sensors have visible and infrared channels, which can be
utilised to calculate NDVI. For example, NDVI can be calculated using the red
band and infrared band of LISS III data, by applying the formula given below:
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NDVI = (NIR – Red) / (NIR + Red)
NDVI works in the following ways. The pigment in plant leaves, chlorophyll
strongly absorbs visible light (from 0.4 to 0.7 µm) for use in photosynthesis. The
cell structure of leaves, on the other hand, strongly reflects NIR light (from 0.7
to 1.1 µm). The more leaves a plant has, more these wavelengths of light are
affected, respectively. We can measure intensity of light coming off the Earth in
visible and NIR wavelengths and quantify photosynthetic capacity of vegetation
in a given pixel of land surface. In general, if there is much more reflected
radiation in NIR wavelengths than in visible wavelengths then vegetation in that
pixel is likely to be dense and may contain some types of forest. If there is very
little difference in the intensity of visible and NIR wavelengths reflected, then
vegetation is probably sparse and may consist of grassland, tundra, or desert.
Since we know the behaviour of plants across EM spectrum, we can derive
NDVI information by focusing on the satellite bands that are most sensitive to
vegetation information (NIR and red). Therefore, bigger the difference between
NIR and red reflectance, more vegetation there has to be.
NDVI algorithm subtracts red reflectance values from NIR and divides it by the
sum of NIR and red bands as mentioned in the equation above.
This normalised index formulation allows us to cope with the fact that two
identical patches of vegetation could have different values if one were, for
example in bright sunshine, and another under a cloudy sky. The bright pixels
would all have larger values, and therefore, a larger absolute difference
between the bands. This is avoided by dividing by the sum of reflectance
values.
Theoretically, calculations of NDVI for a given pixel always result in a number
that ranges from minus one (–1) to plus one (+1); however, in practice, extreme
negative values represent water, values around zero represent bare soil and
values over 0.6 represent dense green vegetation.
NDVI has found a wide application in vegetative studies as it has been used to
estimate crop yields, pasture performance and rangeland carrying capacities
among others. It provides a crude estimate of vegetation health and a means of
monitoring changes in vegetation over time (Fig. 11.12). It can be used to
detect seasonal changes in green biomass but can also be used to detect
changes to human activities (logging) or natural disturbances such as wild fire.
NDVI has been found to be useful for continental or global scale vegetation
monitoring because it can compensate for changing illumination conditions,
surface slope and viewing aspect.
It is often directly related to other ground parameters such as percent of ground
cover, photosynthetic activity of the plant, surface water, leaf area index and the
amount of biomass.

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Fig. 11.12: Healthy vegetation absorbs most of the visible light that hits it and
reflects a large portion of NIR light. Unhealthy or sparse vegetation
reflects more visible light and less NIR light

The most popular and used satellite instrument for collecting NDVI is US
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite. It is sensitive to wavelengths from
0.55 - 0.7 µm and 0.73 - 1.0 µm, both of which are idealised in NDVI
calculation. AVHRR’s detectors measure intensity of light being reflected from
the different bands. Landsat TM is also used to calculate NDVI but because its
band wavelengths differ (uses bands 3 and 4), it is most often used to create
images with greater detail covering less area. Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor of NASA also has an NDVI standard
product.
11.4.3 Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Similar to the NDVI, the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) is employed in
regions with low (40%) vegetative cover. In order to calculate SAVI, the
following is used:
SAVI = (NIR – Red) / (NIR + Red) x (1 + L)
Where, L is a correction factor, which varies from 0 for very high vegetation
cover to 1 for very low vegetation cover. For intermediate vegetation cover, a L
value of 0.5 is commonly used; when L is equal to zero, the SAVI becomes the
same equation as the NDVI.
11.4.4 Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index
An enhanced index called the Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index
(ARVI) is used to account for the influence of the atmosphere. It works best in
places with a lot of atmospheric aerosol, like tropical areas with soot pollution.
The benefit of this index is that it uses the blue band in addition to the red and
NIR bands. A self-correction method for the atmospheric influence on the red
band gives the ARVI greater tolerance to atmospheric effects than other
indices. The difference in radiance between the blue and red bands is
performed in order to adjust the radiance in the red channel (Kaufman and
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Tanre, 1992).Green vegetation typically has ARVI values between 0.20 and
0.80, with a range of -1 to 1. The formula below is used to compute ARVI:
ARVI = (NIR – RB) / (NIR + RB)
RB = Red – γ(Blue band – Red band)
Where RB = red band and γ = 1
11.4.5 Normalised Difference Snow Index
Normalised Difference Snow Index (NDSI) is used to identify snow cover and is
often used for hydrological forecasting. It is calculated by using the following:
NDSI = (Visible – SWIR)/(Visible + SWIR)
Where SWIR = Shortwave infrared
Snow cover reflects strongly and appears as brilliant as clouds in the visible
spectrum. Thus, it is visually challenging to discern from cloud cover. Snow
does not reflect much light in the shortwave infrared region of the spectrum,
allowing clouds and snow cover to be distinguished from one another. While the
threshold may change based on the imagery and kind of snow or ice, higher
NDSI values (> 0.4) often indicate the presence of snow.

11.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF SPECTRAL INDEXES

You are now aware that spectral indexes are fundamentally derived from the
spectral characteristics of the interest features. For instance, spectral indices
for vegetation state are created based on the idea that healthy vegetation
absorbs and reflects significantly in the visible red and NIR regions,
respectively. These characteristics are utilised to create more intricate spectral
indices for tracking phenology factors and vegetation conditions.
Under real-world conditions, the NDVI ranges from values of around -0.2 to 0.6
or 0.7. To discriminate principal land cover classes such as water, non-
vegetationand vegetation the following thresholds in the continuous range are
used (11.13 and 11.14):
i) NDVI with value less 0 indicates water
ii) NDVI with value ranges from0 to 0.2 shows non-vegetation (soil, sealed
surfaces or bare rock)
iii) NDVI with value ranges from 0.2 to 0.6 represents vegetation.
It should be noted that these class limitations are only a very rough
approximation because the mixed pixels effect, canopy reflectance, the
presence of water plants, and the illumination effect of atmospheric or
topographic circumstances can all affect NDVI values. The NDVI can be used
to conceal plants from other types of land cover and to infer the dynamism and
health of the vegetation. Additionally, it is useful for observing the connection
between vegetative development and environmental factors.

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Fig. 11.13: Sentinel 2A Satellite image of Marudhoor area, Thiruvaadhavoor,

Madurai District, Tamil Nadu showing vegetation, soil and other
features (Source:https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/imagegallery/bhuvan.html)

Fig. 11.14: NDVI of the satellite image given in Fig. 11.13 highlighting vegetation
rich areas in green.

It may be noted that when a considerable portion of the soil surface is exposed,
the soil reflectance can manipulate the NDVI values (Fig.11.15). Light reflected
from the soil can have a significant effect on NDVI values and can the values by
up to 20%. Compared to other indices, the ARVI resists the atmospheric effects
and helpful to identify vegetation at different levels (Fig. 11.16).

Fig.11.15: SAVI of a satellite image highlighting the regions of high soil content in
brown.(Source:https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/imagegallery/bhuvan.html)

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Fig. 11.16: ARVI of the satellite image shown in Fig. 11.19 highlighting vegetation
rich areas in green.

SAQ II
a) List out the any four spectral Indices.
b) What is the use of NDVI?

11.6 ACTIVITY
Write the formulae of the following:
i) BVi,j,r =
ii) ARVI =
iii) NDSI =

11.7 SUMMARY
 Image filtering and band ratioing are image enhancement processes.
 Filtering could be a procedure for modifying or enhancing a satellite image
or picture.
 The digital image filtering makes images suitable for land use studies and
for extracting many geological structures.
 Spatial and frequency filtering are two widely used approaches to digitally
filter images.
 The band ratioing technique is used to enhance the spectral difference
between electromagnetic bands by dividing the measure of reflectance for a
pixel in one image band by its geometrically corresponding pixel from
another image band.
 It is largely used to minimise illumination impacts in landscape/terrain
variation or to maximise phenomenon in objects of interest.
 It is an effective technique for suppressing topographic shadows.

 Spectral Indices are mathematical combinations or transformations of bands

that accentuate the spectral properties of features.

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 The calculated spectral index represents a new image that highlights
particular land surface features or properties such as vegetation, soil and
water, which appear better than the original input bands.
 Simple ratio index, Normalised difference vegetation index, Soil adjusted
vegetation index, Atmospherically resistant vegetation index and
Normalised difference snow index are commonly used indices.

11.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. What is image filtering? Discuss in detail types of filters used in image
filtering.
2. Describe in detail band ratioing. Add a note on its significance.
3. Write short notes on the following: i) Simple Ratio Indexii) Normalised
Difference Vegetation Index

11.9 REFERENCES
 Jensen J R (2018) Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing
Perspective, 4th edition, Pearson India Education Services Pvt Ltd, Uttar
Pradesh, India.
 Kaufman YJ and Tanre D (1992) Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation
Index (ARVI) for EOS-MODIS. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and
Remote Sensing, 30, 261-270.
 Liu JG and Mason P J (2009) Essential Image Processing and GIS for
Remote Sensing, Wiley-Blackwell, U.K.
 https://support.esri.com/en-us/gis-dictionary/band-ratio

11.9 FURTHER/SUGGESTED READINGS

 Lillesand T M and Kiefer RW (2015) Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, 7thEdition, John Wiley.
 Schowengerdt R A (2006) Remote Sensing – Models and Methods for
Image Processing, Academic Press.
 Gonzales R C and Woods R E (2018) Digital Image Processing, 4th Edition,
Pearson Education.
 NPTEL course on Remote Sensing, IISc Bangalore at
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/105108077

11.10 ANSWERS
SAQ I
a) Spatial and frequency domain filters.
b) If we increase the size of the low pass kernel from 3x3 to 7x7, the image get
further smoothed and you will get a blurred appearance.

SAQII
a) SR, NDVI, SAVI, ARVI
Contributor: Prof. B. Sathya Bama 237
Block 2 Image Pre-processing Techniques
……………………………….……….............…………………………….……………………….................……
b) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) enhances the vegetation
and more specifically the healthy vegetation.

Terminal Questions
1. Please refer to section 11.2.
2. Please refer to section 11.3.
3. \Please refer to subsections 11.4.1 and 11.4.2.

238 Contributor: Prof. B. Sathya Bama