A Concept in Sub-pixel

Classification: Spectral Mixture

Analysis
Presentedby
KaleabWoldemariam

March5,2016

Pixel: represents a ~square area in the scene that is a

measureofthesensor'sabilitytoresolveobjects.
AMixedPixel:
Spectral images measure mixed or integrated
spectra over a pixel. Often each pixel contains
differentmaterials,manywithdistinctivespectra.
Referstoapixelwithdifferentmaterialsandhence
differentspectralsignatureswithinthesmallestunit
(apixel)ofanimage.

ImageProcessingSequence
(singleimage)
RawSatelliteImage

Spectral Mixture Analysis is

a sub-pixel classification
method usually used in
Medium Resolution Satellite
Images such as Landsat 8.

Pre-Processing(Calibration)
Spectral analysis (Multiband
Image, Ratio Image, PCA, etc.)

Initial Classification or other type

of analysis
Interpretation/verification
or further analysis.
Product

Processing

DistinguishingEarthsSurfaceMaterialsusingSpectral
Reflectance
Reflectance: Is the ratio
of reflected energy to
incident energy.
Varies with

wavelength

Function of the

molecular properties
of the material.

Passive sensors use

suns light as EMR

(Electromagnetic
Radiation)

Reflectance Signature:

A plot of the reflectance

of a material as a
function of wavelength.

Spectral MixtureAnalysis(SMA)
The reflectance of an image pixel is a linear combination of reflectances

from (typically) several pure substances (or endmembers) contained

within the ground-spot sampled by the remote sensing system.
SMA is a technique for estimating the proportion of each pixel that is covered by a

series of known cover types or attempts to determine the likely composition of each
image pixel.
Pure pixels contain only one feature or class. A pure pixel would contain only one

feature, such as vegetation.

Pixels that contain more than one cover type are called mixed pixels. Mixed Pixels

cause Problems in
Traditional

image classifications (e.g.,supervisedorunsupervised classification)

because the pixel belongs to more than one class but can be assigned to only a
single class.

Lead to overestimation or underestimation of land covers.

In a V-I-S model ( Vegetation-Impervious-Soil),

a mixed pixel might contain

Vegetation, Impervious Surface , Soil and Water. Each of these are often called
endmembers.

One Solution to mixed pixel problem : SMA (sometimes called subpixel analysis).

SpectralMixtureAnalysis(SMA)
1.00
0.90
0.80

Reflectance

0.70
0.60

A
B

0.50

C
Mixture

0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
0.40

Mixture=25%A+35%B+40%C
0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

Wavelength (micrometers)

Anareaofgroundof,say30mby30mmaycontain3materials:A,B,andC.
SMAisaninversiontechniquetodeterminethequantitiesofA,B,andC
intheMixturespectrum.
SMAisphysicallybasedonthespectralinteractionofphotonsoflightandmatter.
SMAisinwidespreadusetodayinallsectorsutilizingspectralremotesensing
Variationsincludedifferentconstraintsontheinversion;linearSMA;nonlinearSMA

Linearvs.NonLinearMixing
1. LinearMixing

(additive).
r=fgrg+rs(1fg)
Assumes that endmember substances are
sitting side-by-side within the FOV.
2.NonLinearMixing
Intimatemixtures,
BeersLaw.
r=fgrg+rs(1fg)exp(kgd)
Assumes that endmember components are

randomly distributed throughout the FOV.

d
Multiple scattering effects.

2EndmemberSpectra(Soil&Vegetation)

012
Wavelength,m

Theextremespectra
thatmixandthat
correspondtoscene
componentsare
calledspectral
endmembers.

SpectralMixtures
25%GreenVegetation(GV)
75%Soil
SpectralPlot(TMB3(Red)vs.TMB4(NIR))
60 100%GV
40

100%Soil

TMBand4

75%GV

Apixelwith25%GV

100

50%GV

20

80

60

20

40

TMBand3

60

40

20

0
350

850

1350

1850

2350

SpectralMixtures
3endmemberspectralplot
25%GreenVegetation
70%Soil
5%Shade
60

100%GV
100%
Soil

TMBand4

40

100

20

80

60

100%Shade
0
20

40

TMBand3

60

40

20

0
350

850

1350

1850

2350

LinearSpectralMixtures
m

rmix,b

( f

em rem,b ) b

em 1

em 1

Therecanbeatmostm=n+1endmembers
orelseyoucannotsolveforthefractionsf
uniquely

em 1

rms

1
n

b2

b 1

mix,b =Reflectanceofobserved(mixed)imagespectrumateachbandb

fem

=Fractionofpixelfilledbyendmemberem

=Reflectanceofeachendmemberateachband

em,b

=Reflectanceinbandbthatcouldnotbemodeled

n,m

=numberofimagebands,endmembers

LSMAAssumptions&Process
Assumptions
There exist at least one pure pixel for each class.
The material signature matrix is the same for all image pixels in the scene.
The number of endmembers is known.
The sum of fraction of a pixel is 1.
Fraction of pixels lie between 0 and 1.

The spectral variation in an image is caused by mixtures of a limited number of

surface materials

Two-step process

Endmember detection

Convex geometry-based approach (MVT, PPI, N-FINDR, VCA)

LSE-based approach (UFCLS, USCLS, UNCLS)

Abundance estimation

Least square method (LSE, SCLS, NCLS, FCLS)

Orthogonal subspace projection (OPS)
Quadratic programming (QP)
Target constrained method (CEM)

In order to analyze an image in terms of mixtures, We must

estimatetheendmemberspectraandthenumberofendmembers
youneedtouse.
Endmemberspectracanbepulledfromtheimage
itself,orfromareferencelibrary(requirescalib
rationtoreflectance).

Togettherightnumberandidentityofendmembers,trialanderror
usually works. But for Urban Mapping, the endmembers are
usually Vegetation, Impervious Surface, and Soil, after Water
pixelsaremasked.

Often,shadewillbeanendmember.

shade: a spectral endmember (often the null vector) used to

modeldarkeningduetoterrainslopesandunresolvedshadows

InverseSMA(spectralunmixing)
Aprocessbywhichmixedpixelspectraaredecomposed
intoendmembersignaturesandtheirfractionalabundances.
ObjectiveofSMA:
tofindthespectralendmemberfractionsthatare
proportionaltotheamountofthephysicalendmember
componentinthepixel.

Asaruleofthumb,thenumberofusefulendmembers
inacohortis45forLandsatTMdata.
Itrisestoabout810forimagingspectroscopy.
Therearemanymorespectrallydistinctive
componentsinmanyscenes,buttheyarerareordont
mix,sotheyarenotusefulendmembers.

LandsatTMimage
ofpartofthe
GiffordPinchot
NationalForest

Mature
regrowth

Old growth
Shadow

Burned

Immature
regrowth
Broadleaf
Deciduous

Grasses

Clearcut

Spectralmixtureanalysisfromthe
GiffordPinchotNationalForest

Clearcut

Infractionimages,lighttones
indicatehighabundance

Green
vegetation

R=NPV
G=greenveg.
B=shade
Shade

ImportanceofSMA
Mixing analysis is useful because
1.It

makes fraction pictures that are almost

synonymous
as
abundance
of
physically
meaningful scene components ( e.g. area of
vegetation)

2.It helps reduce dimensionality of data sets to

manageable levels without throwing away much data.

3.By isolating topographic shading, it provides a

more stable basis for classification and a useful

starting point for GIS analysis.
4.Better

Classification accuracy compared to

traditional supervised and unsupervised classification.