U.S.-France Cooperative Research (INRIA): Detection and Characterization of Temporal Changes in Satellite Image Sequences

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

0004494 Cohen This three-year award for U.S.-France cooperative research in computer vision involves Isaac Cohen of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Southern California (USC), Roberto Manduchi of USC and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Isabelle Herlin, Director of the Projet Air at the Institute for Research in Informatics and Applied Mathematics (INRIA) at Rocquencourt, France. The US and French research teams will address the problem of detection and characterization of temporal change in environmental image sequences obtained through satellite remote sensing. The environmental problems in question involve vegetation and forestry monitoring, and ocean/atmospheric sciences. Computer vision techniques are widely used for detecting and characterizing temporal changes in images. This proposal extends this work to the characterization of image properties for texture change detection as found in vegetation and forest images, and to the determination of physical properties for non rigid motion phenomena such as clouds, and ocean-atmosphere exchanges. The US investigators bring to this collaboration expertise in optical flow, variational methods and texture modeling. This is complemented by the French team's expertise in non rigid motion in general and the motion of clouds in particular. The project also takes advantage of access to Landsat remote sensing images and ground truth measures provided by the French team. The project will advance understanding of methods and techniques for automatic analysis of satellite images and lead to development of new computer vision tools for use in earth systems science research This award represents the US side of a joint proposal to the NSF and the French National Institute for Research in Informatics and Applied Mathematics (INRIA). NSF will cover travel funds and living expenses for the US investigators and graduate student. INRIA will support the visits of French researchers to the United States.