2010 3rd International Congress on Image and Signal Processing (CISP2010)

Design of Water Quality Monitoring Based on SVM

and Its Simulation Platform by Remote Sensing

Huibin Wang, Zhuoyuan Ren, Min Tang, Aiye Shi, Fengchen Huang
College of Computer and Information Engineering
Hohai University
Nanjing, China

Abstract—Monitoring water quality using remote sensing
technology is current research focus, the main challenge of which
is to design an appropriate inversion model of water quality and
an effective simulation platform. For the Small Sample Size
problem, this paper proposes a water quality inversion method
based on SVM. Such method uses ε-SVR whose kernel is RBF to
build the inversion model. Besides, we design a water quality
monitoring simulation platform (WRS) based on MVC pattern.
WRS is developed by MFC, GDAL and LIBSVM to realize the
function of graphical interface, image read/write, modeling and
inversion. Furthermore, the divide and conquer algorithm is
utilized to speed up the huge-volume remote sensing image
processing. Finally, we simulate this SVM method on WRS, and
the results show the feasibility of our method and the
effectiveness of the simulation platform.
Keywords-water quality monitoring; SVM; simulation platform;
remote sensing image processin
I. INTRODUCTION
Generally, we use the remote sensing images as the input of
water quality inversion model which is achieved by analyzing
the relationship between characteristics of water reflectance
spectra and water quality indicators. It is the main way to
monitor water quality using remote sensing technology. Hence,
the inversion model is a vital part of water monitoring research.
The analysis and calculation of water quality inversion is
currently based on general remote sensing data processing
platform, like ERDAS and ENVI. However, the large amounts
of models and complex processing programs in those platforms
limit the potential of further research and generalization. Thus,
it’s very important to design an effective remote sensing data
processing simulation platform for the research of water quality
monitoring.
Many scholars have design inversion models in recent
years. Their methods include linear regression, multiple linear
regression, cluster analysis, grey system theory, neural
networks and so on [1]. Nevertheless, there still exist problems
in those methods. The nonlinear relationship between water
quality indicators and reflectance spectra results in the
uncertainty of the inversion model. Although neutral network is
able to imitate the nonlinear relationship [2], if the size of
training sample can’t meet the training demand, the ground
monitoring sites which provide data of training samples are
rather limited, the generalization performance will degrade.
Practically, SVM not only has good ability to approximate
complex nonlinear system, but also has better performance of
generalization, learning and classification [3]. Especially, it has
little dependence on sample size which rests on the limited
number of ground monitoring site. Thus, the paper proposes an
inversion model based on SVM and its application. Besides, we
design a simulation platform (WRS) based on MVC pattern to
make the experiment more efficient.
II. THE MODELING OF WATER QUALITY INVERSION BASED
ON ε -SVR
A. Model Construction
The inversion model is a representation of relationship
between characteristics of water reflectance spectra and water
quality indicators. So, we can acquire the inverse result from
the model by using the remote sensing images as the input,
because the information of water reflectance can be stored in
these images. There are three main parts to modeling as
follows: First, combine the ground monitoring data and remote
sensing image into training set. Second, search the best
parameters by cross-validation. Third, train the ε-SVR and get
the inversion model. Note that the targets of the training set are
supplied by ground monitoring data, and the attributes are
provided by remote sensing image. Fig. 1 shows the modeling
procedure. Note that the attributes depend on the spectral
characteristics of the target water quality indicator. For
chlorophyll-α, there is an absorption peak near 440nm, a
reflection peak near 550nm, a prominent fluorescence peak
near 685nm. It coincides with the band 1-3 of the TM image.
Thus, the attributes are the DN values of the band 1-3 [4].
Figure 1. Water quality inversion model based on ε-SVR.

978-1-4244-6516-3/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 2163

B. Support Vector Regression The optimal solution can be found in the following form:
Support Vector machine (SVM) was developed by Vapnik
⎧ ∂L l
⎪ ∂b = ∑ (α i − α i ) = 0
and co-workers [5].It’s a kind of machine learning algorithm *

based on statistical learning theory. It can be used for not only ⎪ i =1

classification, but also regression estimation. This paper ⎪ ∂L l

analyzes the regression part of SVM, because the target values ⎨ = ω − ∑ (α i − α i* ) xi = 0 (4)
are the concentrations of water quality indicator. It can be ⎪ ∂ω i =1

called Support Vector Regression (SVR), when SVM is used ⎪ ∂L

⎪ (*) = C − α i − ηi = 0.
(*) (*)

for regression estimation [6]. ∂

⎩ iξ
Following is the principle of SVM: the attributes (inputs) Substituting (4) into (3) yields the dual optimization problem
can be assumed as vectors in a higher-dimension space. In this
space, we can find a unique hyperplane (optimal hyperplane) l l

max W (α ) = ∑ yi (α i − α i* ) − ε ∑ (α i + α i* )
which has maximum margin of separation between any training i =1 i =1
point and the hyperplane. The wider the margin is, the smaller
1 l
the total error will be. −
2 i , j =1
∑ (α i
− α i )(α j − α j )( xi ⋅ x j ),
* *
(5)
To generalize the SVM to SVR, the optimal hyperplane is a l
function which can estimate target values. Suppose we are subject to ∑ (α i
− α i* ) = 0 and α i , α i* ∈ [ 0, C ] .
given training data ( x1 , y1 ), … , ( xl , yl ) ∈ R d × R , where i =1

xi , i = 1, 2, , l denote the attributes of an input sample, Solving equation (4) and (5), the second equation of (4) can be
yi , i = 1, 2, , l denote the target of a sample. Our goal is to find rewritten as follows:
a function f ( x) = ω ⋅ x + b, ω ∈ R d , b ∈ R . If the difference l

ω = ∑ (α i − α i* )xi  (6)
between f ( xi ) and yi is less than ε for all the xi , f ( x) will i =1

have the ability to predict y from x . We can write the problem

Thus, the regression function has the following explicit form:
as a convex optimization problem:
l

f ( x) = ∑ (α i − α i ) ⋅ ( xi ⋅ x ) + b  (7)
*

1 2
min φ ( x ) = ω ,
2 (1)
subject to yi − (ω ⋅ xi − b) ≤ ε .
In this description, ε is the maximum deviation from the
actually targets. So the method is called ε-SVR. Sometimes,
this may not be the case. We can transform (1) into a
constrained optimization problem by introducing slack
variables. We denote them by ξ and ξ * ,
1 n
i =1
In nonlinear situation, x can be mapped into high-
dimension feature space by ϕ ( x) . The samples are linearly
separable in this feature space. The inner product ( xi ⋅ x ) can be
transformed into ϕ ( xi ) ⋅ ϕ ( x ) . Substituting ϕ ( xi ) ⋅ ϕ ( x ) for kernel
function K ( xi , x ) , the linear fit can be realized after nonlinear
transformation, and there is no increase in computational
complexity. Thus, the optimization problem can be transformed
as follow:

+ C ∑ (ξi + ξi ),
2 l l
min φ ( x ) = ω max W (α ) = ∑ yi (α i − α i ) − ε ∑ (α + α i )
*
* *

2 i =1
i =1 i =1
(8)
⎧ yi − ω ⋅ xi − b ≤ ε + ξ i (2) 1 l

⎪
subject to ⎨ω ⋅ xi + b − yi ≤ ε + ξ i
* −
2 i , j =1
∑ (α i
− α )(α j − α )K ( xi , x j ).
*
i
*
j

⎪ ξ , ξ * ≥ 0, i = 1, 2, , l , C > 0.
⎩ i i The equation (6) is rewritten as follow,
We can use Lagrange multipliers to cope with (2) by l

introducing α i , α i* ,ηi ,ηi* . ω = ∑ (α i − α i* ) ⋅ ϕ ( xi )  (9)

i =1

1 l
And the regression function can be written as
ω + C ∑ (ξi + ξ i* )
2
L (ω , b, ξ , ξ * ) =
2 i =1 l

f ( x) = ∑ (α i − α i ) ⋅ K ( xi , x ) + b  (10)
*
l

− ∑ α i (ε + ξi − yi + ω xi + b) i =1
i =1
l
(3) There are four commonly kernel functions as follows:
− ∑ α i ( yi + ε + ξ i − ω xi − b)
* *

i =1 • Linear: K ( xi , x j ) = xiT x j ; (11)

l

− ∑ (ηi ξi + ηi ξi )
* *
• Polynomial: K ( xi , x j ) = (γ xiT x j + r ) d , γ > 0 ; (12)
i =1

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 •
2
RBF: K ( xi , x j ) = exp( −γ xi − x j ), γ > 0 ; (13)
• Sigmoid: K ( xi , x j ) = tanh(γ xiT x j + r ) . (14)
In this paper, we choose the RBF as the kernel to build the
water quality inversion model.
C. Values of C, ε and γ
We have to identify a best parameter group (C, ε, γ) via
grid-search before training the SVR. Grid-search is a method
that traverses the ranges of the parameters to pick a best
parameter group. In detail, we use the existing training set and
every parameter group which is picked via grid-search to
conduct an n-fold cross-validation. The best group is the one
who has the highest accuracy in all the cross-validations. In n-
fold cross-validation, we first divide the training set into n
subsets of equal size. Then, one subset is tested using the
regression function trained on the remaining n-1 subsets. Thus,
each sample of the training set is predicted once, so the
accuracy of a cross-validation is the percentage of targets
which are predicted in ε deviation.
III. MVC PATTERN AND SIMULATION PLATFORM DESIGN
We will make use of the simulation platform (WRS) to
support the analysis and evaluation of the water quality
inversion model. Hence, functionally, WRS mainly involves
the remote sensing image processing and water quality
monitoring. For the former, WRS can read, write and browse
huge-volume remote sensing images and it can process these
images quickly. For the latter, it can realize ground monitoring
data management, SVM modeling and water quality inversion.
We designed the structure of WRS by introducing MVC
pattern. Consequently, WRS has powerful capability of
operation and display and it can process huge-volume images
quickly.
WRS is developed by Visual C++ 2008. We take advantage
of GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) to realize the
remote sensing image I/O between memory and peripheral and
utilize LIBSVM (an open source SVM library developed by
Chin-Jen Lin and co-workers [7] [8]) to complete modeling and
inversion of SVM.
A. MVC Pattern
MVC denotes Model-View-Controller. The core ideology
of MVC is to separate the function of business logic,
representation and control, from an application, to three
independent parts. MVC was proposed by Trygve Reenskaug
in 1970s. The target of MVC is to realize a type of dynamic
programming to simplify the modification and extension of the
program, and to recycle partial program. Moreover, the
application structure is clear and easy to read by using this
pattern.
Model can be used to encapsulate the business logic. The
business logic of WRS is the image processing. Model can
access the data directly without View and Controller. View can
show the data which the user wants. Generally, business logic
can’t be included in View. The effect of Controller is to
coordinate among each other modules. It can be used to control
the flow of the application. It processes the events, and then
responds them. The user interface and complex business logic
are separated clearly by introducing MVC. So, it often used to
design distributed systems. Nevertheless, for some application
which has complex functions of data processing, it can be used
too.
B. Framework Design using MVC
1) Improvement of Document/View Frame
WRS is developed via MFC (Microsoft Foundation
Classes). MFC provide a frame named Document/View. In the
frame, the class CView can be seen as View of MVC, its task is
to draw the windows and data. The task of class CDocument is
to access data and files, so it can be seen as Model of MVC.
There isn’t an independent module to realize the Controller of
MVC in MFC, so it can be realized in CView or CDocument.
Accordingly, the function of Controller must be bound
with CView or CDocument. Hence, if we use Document/View
frame directly for WRS, the strong coupling between modules
of view and business logic will occur. Thus, we add a public
class named CModel which is a member of CDocument to
solve this problem. In class CModel, it encapsulates the whole
business logics. In this case, the business logic can be, partly,
independent of CDocument. Then, CDocument degenerate into
Controller. Eventually, the framework of WRS is logical
consistent with MVC pattern (Fig. 2).
Figure 2. The improvement of Document/View.
2) The Hierarchy Design
According to our improvement, the functions which include
image reading, writing and display, SVM modeling and water
quality inversion, and the collection and management of
monitoring data, can be realized in CModel. Moreover, the
functions are encapsulated in independent modules based on
modular program design, and the modules provide public
interface to Model. Particularly, we build, separately, file I/O
interface, SVM interface and data management interface to
provide services for image operation of reading and writing,
modeling and inversion, and maintenance of monitoring data.
Fig. 3 shows the hierarchy diagram of WRS. In the diagram,
the upside of Model is the infrastructure of WRS, and the
downside of Model is the basic function of it. For the basic
function of it, every layer invokes methods which belong to the
next layer, and provides service to the previous layer.
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Figure 3. System hierarchy diagram.
IV. THE DESIGN OF DATA PROCESSING
A. Division Algorithm of Remote Sensing Image Based on
Divide and Conquer Algorithm
The remote sensing images must be processed pixel by
pixel during the pretreatment or inversion. Due to the volume
of remote image, it often can’t be read into memory at once.
Thus, we need to design an algorithm to divide a whole image
into blocks. These blocks are smaller enough to be read one by
one. So, the specific procedure, like inversion and pretreatment,
can be allowed to work on these blocks one after another.
In this paper, a division algorithm is designed to divide the
image into blocks based on Divide and Conquer algorithm.
This algorithm needs to divide an image, self adaptively, into
blocks which have equal size, because the size of input remote
sensing image is uncertain. The basic idea of this algorithm is
the following: First, an original image is divided into 4 roughly
equal sized blocks by drawing a cross at the center of it. Then,
these blocks are divided into sub blocks by using the same
method. Continuing this process until the size of blocks less
than the size which defined by user. Finally, these blocks are
read in the memory to process one by one (Fig. 4). The process
of the whole image is complete when all of these blocks are
processed. It’s a typical Divide and Conquer problem. The
division of the algorithm can be designed as recursion. The
stopping criterion of this recursion is “block size ≤ predefined
size”. This algorithm can be described as follow:
⎧Θ(n 2 ) n≤S
T ( n) = ⎨ (15)
⎩4T (n / 4) + Θ(1) n > S .
Here, S represents the predefined size. The time complexity at
the stopping criterion is Θ( n 2 ) , because these final blocks,
which are subject to algorithms of remote sensing image
processing, must be processed pixel by pixel.
Figure 4. Division algorithm diagram.
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In the programming, a function called ImageCalc is defined
to implement this algorithm. Besides, the specific image
processes which can be invocated after division are designed as
a callback parameter of ImageCalc. Function description is the
following:
ImageCalc( CRect rect, int *band, void *para,
void (CModel::*calc)(CRect,int*,void*) )
• rect: The information of current block.
• band: A pointer which point to an array of band’s ID.
• para: A pointer which point to additional parameters.
• calc: A pointer of callback function.
This algorithm only divides according the image
coordinate. The callback function read the final blocks from
File I/O interface via their coordinate, and then processes and
saves them.
B. The Design of Concentration Inversion Procedure
As mentioned above, WRS needs to execute the
concentration inversion procedure on the final blocks. For this
procedure, first, we try to train the ε-SVR model by the
correlative bands of the remote sensing image and the actual
concentration which acquire from ground monitoring sites.
Then, the remote sensing image is imported into the ε-SVR
model. Finally, we get the inverse concentration of the water
quality indicator. Now, we will realize this procedure in
computer. First, the pixels must be found by the location of the
ground monitoring sites, and then combine them and actual
concentration into training set after pretreatment. Second, train
the ε-SVR using the training set, and then a ε-SVR model will
be returned. Finally, import the remote sensing image, and then
we will get the predicted concentration distribution image.
Fig.5 is a flowchart of this procedure. We can observe how the
data flows among modules in Fig. 5.
In this paper, a data management interface is designed to
manage the data of ground monitoring sites. Moreover, the
LIBSVM is encapsulated to a SVM interface to provide
services of SVM modeling and inversion of water quality
indicator concentration. The two interfaces mentioned above
can be invoked by CModel. The data structure and functions of
LIBSVM is invisible for CModel.
Figure 5. SVM modeling and concentration inversion procedure.
 V. RESULTS

A. Inverse Results of SVM Model

A Taihu Lake image which created on 5/4/1997 based on
Landsat TM is chosen to make concentration inversion of
chlorophyll-α and suspended substance. The actual
concentrations and predicted values are shown in Table I.

TABLE I. CONCENTRATION COMPARISON OF ACTUAL AND PREDICTED

VALUES

Concentrations (mg/L) Figure 7. Inversion interface.

Sites Chlorophyll-α Suspended Substance
Actual Predicted Actual Predicted
1 0.039 0.036 46 45 TABLE II. INVERSION PERFORMANCE OF WRS
2 0.022 0.020 107 106
3 0.016 0.018 14 13 CPU Memory (Byte) Time (μs)
4 0.017 0.018 18 18 Pentium IV 3.0G 1G 20,539
5 0.013 0.013 41 40 Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.5G 2G 11,953
6 0.016 0.017 35 35
7 0.017 0.019 15 15 VI. CONCLUSIONS
8 0.008 0.015 15 15
9 0.039 0.041 22 22 In this paper, we design a method of water quality inversion
10 0.047 0.045 16 16 based on SVM. The accuracy of this method is better than
11 0.016 0.014 41 41 traditional ones. At the same time, we design a simulation
12 0.104 0.102 25 24 platform of water quality monitoring (WRS) using remote
sensing technology based on MVC pattern. It is able to realize
Fig. 6 shows the inverse results. The concentrations of functions of reading, writing and processing of remote sensing
Chlorophyll-α and suspended substance are very high at the image, water quality inversion and management of monitoring
north and east of Taihu Lake, especially at the river entrances data. We utilize the division algorithm to divide the original
and the lake’s bay. In these regions, the jurisdiction belongs to image into blocks. This algorithm can be utilized to process
Wuxi and Suzhou which are the densely populated, the most huge-volume remote sensing image. The research and design
industrially and agriculturally prosperous and heavy polluted mentioned in this paper can be generalized to the application of
cities. water quality monitoring.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (60774092) and ( 60901003), Research
Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China
(20070294027).

Figure 6. Inverse results of concentrations (Unit: mg/L). (a) Concentration
distribution of chlorophll-α. (b) Concentration distribution of suspended
substance.
B. Performance of WRS
Fig. 7 is the interface of WRS after concentration inversion
of chlorophyll-α. There is a thumbnail window at the upper left
corner, and a full resolution window at the right side.
We use WRS to process the Landsat TM data whose
resolution is 4017×4132 and number of band is 7 on two
hardware conditions. The time consumed of predicting the
concentration of chlorophyll-α via ε-SVR is shown by Table II.
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