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Divergence PDF
Divergence PDF
1. Introduction
Texture is one of the elements in image analysis. The texture models reported in the
literature may be classified into three broad categories (Reed and du Buf 1993, Lira
and Frulla 1998): structured-based, feature-based and model-based. In the first
category the existence of detectable primitive elements is assumed. In the feature-
based methods, regions of constant and predetermined texture characteristics are
sought, while in a model-based technique the textures are conceived as the result of
an underlying stochastic process. This paper develops a model-based texture method
for multi-spectral images.
Texture from multi-spectral images has received attention in the scientific
literature (Shafarenko et al. 1997, Tseng and Lai 1999, Paschos 2000, Deng and
Manjunath 2001, Chen and Chen 2002). Some multi-spectral texture models are
derived by means of operators working directly in the spatial domain of the image.
An extension of autoregressive and Markov random field models for multi-spectral
images has been reported in the literature (Bennett and Khotanzad 1998). Using the
2. Methods
This section formalizes the mapping of a multi-spectral image into a vector field. It
begins by describing the acquisition of the image using a multi-spectral sensor set.
From this, a pixel is defined as an n-dimensional vector, n being the number of
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2685
Where (M,N) is the size of the image in the (x,y) directions, respectively, and N is the
semi-group of natural numbers. The pixel values themselves may assume integer
values according to the set
Where mgN, and 7(m(12 in multi-spectral images. For m57, the possible range
of DN is [0, 127], while for m512, the range is [0, 4095]. In brief, a multi-spectral
digital image g is a function such that, g: L R B. On the other hand, let Xi be the set
The Cartesian product Xn5X16X26 Xn defines the set of the ordered n-tuple
(x1,x2, xn). Let (b1,b2, bn) the values of a pixel through the bands of the image;
xi5bi is equated, therefore (b1,b2, bn) is an n-tuple in this Cartesian coordinate
system. To every n-tuple (b1,b2, bn), a vector u is associated: u(x1,x2, xn) r
(b1,b2, bn). Let E be an n-dimensional discrete Euclidian space,EgNn. The
dimension of u is given by the Euclidian metric
" #1=2
X
n
kuk~ x2i 4
i~1
The set of vectors {u(x1,x2, xn)} is the result of the mapping of the multi-spectral
image onto a vector field. It is noted that not every n-tuple (x1,x2, xn) of the
domain D(Xn)gE, has a vector associated with the vector field, and an n-tuple
(x1,x2, xn) may have more than one vector associated with the vector field. Hence,
the vector field associated with the multi-spectral image is the set of vectors
U5{u(x1,x2, xn)} in the domain D(Xn)gE.
2686 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez
Let us consider now a hypercube of size dx1dx2dx3 dxn, where dxi is the side along
the coordinate direction xi. As a first approximation, the flux through the sides of
the hypercube is expressed as
wxi ~uxi x1 , . . . xi zdxi ,xiz1 , . . . xn {uxi x1 , . . . xn dx1 . . . dxi{1 dxiz1 . . . dxn , Vxi 7
Summing up the flux contributions wxi, " xi, and taking the limit as dxi R 0,
produces
X
n
Lux i
w~ 8
i~1
Lxi
Therefore, the divergence is a measure of the flux of the vector field. The divergence
may be calculated by means of the finite difference approximation given by equation
(7). To improve the quality of the results a weighted finite difference is used; this is
explained in section 3.1.
Mexico City
Eigenvalue Variance
823.972 81.070
134.813 13.264
48.938 4.815
4.543 0.447
3.537 0.348
0.564 0.055
2688 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez
Lillesand and Kiefer 2000). Intrinsic dimensionality for other multi-spectral images
can be devised easily. Because of the above, the algorithm for divergence calculation
works with principal components instead of the original bands of Landsat images.
Figure 1. (a) Block diagram of divergence algorithm. (b) Vector field of a subset of Mexico
City image employing two bands.
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2689
Figure 1. (Continued).
4. The spatial coordinates in the image of each vector of U are stored in a table.
5. A cube of 36363 voxels is considered. A binomial-like weighted function
(Jahne 1997) is assumed and assigned to the voxels of the cube sides. The
assignment is as follows: the centre voxel has a weight factor of 4, the four
voxels closest to the centre a weight factor of 2, and the four corners a weight
factor of 1. Cubes of 56565 voxels, or 76767 voxels may be used as well,
adjusting the weighting function according to the binomial function.
6. The centre voxel of the cube is systematically displaced (figure 4) through all
the points of the domain D(Xn). In each location of the cube, the flux is
calculated using expression (7) and the binomial-like weighting function.
7. The result of the flux calculation is written in an output image file: the texture
map. This is achieved with the help of the coordinate table constructed in step
4.
8. The histogram of the output image is stretched to the range [0, 255].
2690 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez
Figure 2. Mexico City image: (a) false colour composite [R,G,B]5[Principal component 3,
Principal component 2, Principal component 1]; (b) texture map derived from divergence
operator.
The use of principal components in this research is imposed by the following: (a)
satellite multi-spectral images have an intrinsic dimensionality of two (SPOT) or
three (TERRA/ASTER, Landsat TM), which means that the first two or three
principal components carry the most relevant information of the image; (b) those
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2691
Figure 3. Synthetic image: (a) gray scale representation of synthetic image; (b) texture map
derived from divergence operator; (c) amplification of lower left quadrant and texture region;
(d) amplification of an upper region (black arrow in (a)).
components are almost noise free (Ricotta et al. 1999); (c) the memory demands of
the algorithm grow exponentially with the number of bands for n bands quantized
at 8 bits each the requirements are 256n bytes, i.e. the size of the vector field depends
only on the number of bands and the level of quantization. These requirements are
valid for direct computation, unless the vector field is constructed and processed by
parts, or the values in the bands are very coarsely quantized. For n>5, the
computational burden, in both memory demands and computing time, is
unmanageable on a PC. The algorithm is written in Delphi 6. On a Pentium III
@ 700 MHz with 256 MB RAM, the computing time is approximately one minute
for a three-band image of 204861800 pixels size.
2692 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez
Figure 4. Displacement of a cube through the vector field formed by any three bands i, j and
k.
Figure 6. Texture maps of (a) Mexico City image derived from generalized co-occurrence
algorithm; (b) synthetic image derived from generalized co-occurrence algorithm.
Figure 7. Comparisons of RGB composite, texture image and a map of selected areas.
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2695
Figure 7. (Continued).
shown in figure 2(a). This image is named Mexico City. A general description of this
sub-image follows.
The image named Mexico City covers the metropolitan area of one of the largest
cities in the world. This image also includes: (1) a forest zone to the south-west of the
city; (2) a series of agriculture fields to the south and to the west; (3) deforested areas
to the south-west. The vegetation cover is very much altered by urban growth and
anthropogenic activities; vegetation types include pines, oaks, shrubs, grass and
various agriculture fields. A group of water bodies are visible to the north-east. On
the grounds of visual assessment by a photo-interpreter, field work and available
maps, the following are identified: texture coarseness varies from smooth in the
agriculture fields and deforested areas, intermediate in the shrubs/grass areas, and
rough in the city and forested areas. Details of these texture features are provided in
section 4.2. The photo-interpretation work was done using the FCC shown in
figure 2(a).
3.4.2 Synthetic multi-spectral image. The usefulness of a synthetic image consists
in having well-defined texture regions prior to the application of the divergence
operator. Therefore, a synthetic image formed by three bands was used to test the
validity of the algorithm described in section 3.1. The size of this image is: 6206313
pixels. The use of principal components of the multi-spectral image implies non-
correlation among the components. Instead, the synthetic image bands show some
correlation; this is shown in table 3. The divergence algorithm works for both non-
correlated and correlated bands. A grey scale representation of this synthetic image
is shown in figure 3(a). At the scale defined by a cube of 36363 voxels there are
basically four texture regions in the synthetic image:
1. a regular grid on the lower left quadrant (see figure 3(c)) this is a coarse
texture;
2. a region ranging diagonally across the image this is a medium-coarse
texture;
3. a region formed by two sections, one on the upper part and one on the right
side of the image this is a smooth texture (see explanation below);
4. a background with uniform pixel values this is an extreme case of a very
smooth texture.
Region 3 in the above list is smooth at the scale determined by the size of the cube;
at a greater scale, this texture would be rough. In other words, for a cube of 36363
voxels, region 3 appears smooth, while for a cube of 96969 voxels the texture
appears rough. The region of the regular grid is amplified in figure 3(c). The
alternating pixel values that form this grid form a coarse texture at the scale defined
by the size of the cube. To state precisely the texture regions listed as 2 and 3,
amplification (figure 3(d)) of an area of figure 3(a) must be considered. The area for
this amplification is indicated by a black arrow on figure 3(a). In figure 3(d), for a
cube of 36363, the region to the lower right of (A) appears as smooth, while to the
lower right of (B) appears as rough. In (A), the slight variations in pixel values are
detected by the algorithm as smooth, while in (B) the noticeable variations in pixel
values are detected as intermediate rough. Instead, a cube the size of figure 3(d)
would detect the entire region as rough.
4. Results
This section first provides an analysis of the goodness and limitations of the
divergence algorithm; and then gives a detailed discussion of results. The quality of
results were evaluated in the following ways: (a) the RGB composites and the
texture images were inspected by a photo-interpreter; (b) the synthetic image set the
grounds for identification of texture regions; the existence of well-known texture
regions in this image allows the verification of texture segmentation by means of the
divergence operator; (c) the use of field work data and available maps for the study
area defined by the image named Mexico City. The grey levels depicting the texture
for satellite images are shown in figures 2(b), 5, 6(a), 7(a) and 7(b); for the synthetic
image in figures 3(b), 3(c), 3(d) and 6(b). On the grounds of this evaluation, the
explanation of figures 2(b), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 5, 6(a), 6(b), 7(a) and 7(b) is given in
sections 4.2 and 4.3.
Provided the above conditions are met, detailed texture maps may be prepared for
multi-spectral images.
course, located in the middle of the image, is seen as dark shades too. A scale of
texture coarseness versus shade of grey is included in figure 2(b).
A special mention is deserved by the texture appearance of the rectangular water
body located to the north-east of the image. At first sight, this body should show a
smooth texture, i.e. a dark grey tone. However, it appears as light tones, indicating a
coarse texture. The explanation for this is the following: The sensor on board the
Landsat platform is calibrated to measure the levels of reflectivity from the land
surface. The reflectivity levels from water bodies are, in general, much lower
compared with land reflectivity. Only water bodies with a high concentration of
sediments show a relatively high reflectivity signal. Hence, the signal to noise ratio of
water bodies is, in general, very poor. A poor signal to noise ratio occurs when
In>Is, where In and Is are the intensities of the noise and the signal, respectively.
Therefore, the light tones of the water body are associated with the texture of noise
signal and not with the signal itself. To confirm that the algorithm is able to detect
texture associated with noise, a portion of a Landsat TM image is shown where a
water body with varying levels of sediments is clearly visible (figure 5). As the signal
to noise ratio becomes poor, the texture roughness increases. The texture is detected
as smooth in areas with high sediment concentration where the signal to noise ratio
is good. For low sediment concentration, where the signal to noise ratio is poor, the
texture is depicted as rough. The divergence operator is applied after principal
components analysis, which places the relevant information in the first components,
leaving the noise in the last components. However, the remnants of the banding and
coherent electronic noise (Lillesand and Kiefer 2000) are still visible in the texture
associated with the water body. This is a good indicator of the divergence capability
to measure subtle texture variations.
A texture feature that is worthy of mention is the set of roads located to the right
of the image. Streets and avenues in the city appear in general as smooth texture;
however, the roads to the right are shown in the texture image as bright tones,
indicating a rough texture. The explanation for this is that different conditions
prevail in inner roads in the city and vicinities. There are three possible scenarios for
roads: (a) small roads surrounded by buildings these roads almost disappear in the
texture image (middle of figure 7(a); (b) wide roads with no division between lanes
these roads appear as smooth texture (left of figure 7(b)); and (c) wide roads with
division between lanes (three roads to the right of texture image) these roads
appear as intermediate to rough texture; the higher and the stronger the division, the
coarser the texture. The roads that are to the right of the image are highways with an
important structure that divides the lanes; this produces a rough texture in the
texture image.
The texture image obtained by means of the co-occurrence matrix shows low
contrast and poor details (figure 6(a)). The same texture elements appear in the
texture images generated by the divergence and co-occurrence algorithms. However,
the divergence operator produces better details and definition. It is worth
mentioning the following: the divergence operator maps the vector field of the
multi-spectral image into a grey scale image where each grey level represents texture
coarseness. The grey tone variations in the texture image must no be taken as
manifestations of texture itself; rather, the grey tones are related directly to texture
coarseness, as indicated in the scale included in figures 2(b), 6(a) and 6(b). Grey tone
variations in the texture image indicate texture coarseness changes, as detailed
in section 2.3. According to this, the texture image obtained from the
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2699
white tones. The shape and the area of the deforested area agree well in the
RBG composite, the texture image and the map. It is worth mentioning that in
this area some shadows cover part of the volcano; even under these
conditions, the algorithm is able to detect the right texture.
6. Agriculture field. A rather smooth surface with various agriculture fields
intermingled with grass is shown as intermediate and smooth texture. A gully
to the right shows a coarser texture than that of the agriculture and grass
fields.
5. Conclusions
A divergence operator to extract the texture content of multi-spectral images has
been designed and tested. This operator was applied to several multi-spectral
images, producing good results. A comparison of this operator with a generalized
co-occurrence algorithm shows that the divergence is capable of producing a good
description of texture coarseness from a multi-spectral image. The divergence
operator carries no parameters. The finite size of the cube and the binomial
weighting function are to estimate the value of the involved partial derivatives. The
dimension of the cube sets a limit to the texture feature size detectable by this
method. In addition to this, the dimension of the cube may be used to derive texture
at different scales. The divergence operator is unmanageable on a PC for five or
more bands. However, the intrinsic dimensionality of Landsat TM images is close to
three. Therefore, the first three principal components carry the relevant information
contained in the image. On the other hand, the principal components transforma-
tion places the noise in the last components. In this sense, the use of the first three
components improves the quality of results and lessens the demands of memory and
computing time. For other multi-spectral image types, such as SPOT or TERRA/
ASTER, the principal components may be employed as well. This work indicates
that the greater the spectral depth (intrinsic dimensionality) of the images, the better
A divergence operator to quantify texture 2701
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Arturo Rodriguez for the photo-interpretation task.
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