Image pre-processing

Image pre-processing operations aim to correct distorted or degraded image data to create a more faithful
representation of the original scene. This typically involves the initial processing of raw image data to calibrate
the data radiometrically and to correct for geometric distortions. These operations are called pre-processing
because they normally precede further manipulation and analysis of image data to extract specific information.
The nature of any image pre-processing operation depends upon the characteristics of sensor used to acquire the
image data. Two stages in pre-processing:
 Radiometric correction
 Geometric correction

(A) Radiometric correction

Radiometric errors are present in the form of noise which is any unwanted disturbance in image data due to
limitations in sensing, signal digitization, and data recording process. The potential sources of these errors are:
a) periodic drift or malfunctioning of a detector
b) electronic interference between sensor components
c) intermittent hiccups in data transmission and recording
Radiometric errors are of two types:
 Internal errors
i) Calibration source
ii) Detector response
 External errors
i. Atmospheric attenuation

Internal errors and corrections

Calibration source: These corrections or calibration techniques attempt to make the detector outputs correct.
These corrections are primarily applied by agency responsible for maintaining the data quality. An onboard
radiance calibration mechanism is provided to correct for drift of detector output from time to time and identify
correct input/output values for each detector. Occasional solar observations are used to correct for changes in the
output of calibration lamp. Some operational satellite systems have in-flight calibration facilities, others do not,
or it is difficult to use this ancillary information.

Detector related / Detector response errors

(1) Line dropout errors: In this kind of error, a particular line may be containing spurious DN value (zero). If one
of the six detectors in Landsat MSS or one of the sixteen detectors in TM fails to function during a scan, this
results in a brightness of zero for that scan line. This is often called line dropout and may appear as completely
black line in the band k, of the imagery. There is no way to restore this lost data. However, once the problem line
is identified by using a simple thresholding algorithm that can flag any scan line having a mean brightness value
at or near zero, it is possible to evaluate the output for the dropout line as the pixel-wise average of the preceding
and succeeding lines which are not influenced by dropout errors.
(2) Line striping/banding errors: Sometimes, a detector does not fail completely, but simply goes out of
adjustment (e.g. provides readings perhaps twice as great as the other detectors for the same band). This is referred
to as n-line striping or banding. For example, Landsat MSS has 6 detectors/band. If perfectly operating then each

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of the detectors would give same output if received the same input. However, with lapse of time, the radiometric
response of one or more of detectors tended to drift over time.
Such errors can be corrected by applying a linear model which assumes that the mean and the standard deviation
of data from each detector should be the same i.e. the detector imbalance is considered to be the only factor
producing differences in mean and standard deviation. To get rid of striping effects of detector imbalance, means
and standard deviations are equalized i.e. forced to be equal to a chosen value (the overall mean and the overall
standard deviation of the image).

External errors/atmospheric corrections

The first term in the above equation contains valid information about ground reflectance and the second term
contains scattered path radiance and causes haze in the image and reduces contrast. Correction for atmospheric
scattering is necessary if:
 The scattering level is spatially variable. For example, an image covering a large urban area and surrounding
natural scene will have entirely different image contrast and spectral characteristics for urban area from non-
urban area because of particulate and gaseous components in the air.
 Multispectral image is to be analysed and the scattering level is temporally variant. The changing atmospheric
conditions can prevent extension of class signatures from one date to another.
 Certain analysis has to be performed on the data such as spectral band ratios. The radiance bias, Lp, caused by
atmosphere scattering is not removed by scattering.

Various first order atmospheric haze correction methods are,

 Method-1 (Regression adjustment)
 Method-2 (Histogram adjustment)

(B) Geometric correction

Geometric correction is the process of rectification of geometric errors introduced in the imagery during the
process of its acquisition. It is the process of transformation of a remotely sensed image so that it has the scale
and projection properties of a map. A related technique called registration is the fitting of the coordinate system
of one image to that of a second image of the same area. Geocoding and geo-referencing are the often-used terms
in connection with the geometric correction process. The basic concept behind geocoding is the transformation
of satellite images into a standard map projection so that image features can be accurately located on the earth's
surface, and the image can be compared directly with other sources of geographic information (such as maps).
Geometric corrections account for various geometrical errors during the scanning of the sensor, movement of
platform, earth curvature, etc.

Types of geometric distortions

Geometric distortions in satellite images can be classified on the basis of the nature and source of errors as
follows:
(a) Systematic distortions (stationary in nature)
The effect is constant and can be predicted in advance, hence these can be easily corrected by applying formulae
derived by modelling sources of distortions mathematically. Various types of errors in this category are:
(i) scan skew
(ii) scanner distortion/panoramic distortion
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 (iii) variations in scanner mirror velocity
(iv) perspective projection
(v) map projection

(b) Non-systematic distortions (non-stationary in nature)

Their effects are not constant because they result from variations in spacecraft altitude, velocity, and attitude and
hence unpredictable. These can be corrected by satellite tracking data or well-distributed ground control points
(GCPs) occurring in the image. These distortions are also of two type on the basis of correction method:
a) distortions evaluated from the satellite tracking data:
i) earth rotation correction
ii) spacecraft velocity correction
b) distortions evaluated from ground control:
i) altitude variations
ii) attitude variations (pitch, roll, and yaw variations)

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 Fig. Geometrical distortions in remotely sensed imagery

Terms related to geometric correction (ERDAS User manual)

Rectification: Process of projecting the data on to a plane and making it conform to a map projection system.
Resampling: Process of extrapolating data values for the pixels on the new grid from the values of source pixels.
Registration: Process of making image data conform to another image. In this a map coordinate system is not
necessarily involved.
Geo-referencing: It is the process of assigning map coordinates to image data. The image data may not need to
be rectified - the data may already be projected on the desired plane, but not yet be referenced to the proper
coordinate system.
Geocoded data: Geocoded data are images that have been rectified to a particular map projection and pixel size,
and have had radiometric correction applied. It is only necessary to rectify geocoded data if it must conform to a
different projection system, or be registered to another data.
1. Rectification, by definition involves geo-referencing, since all map projection system are associated with map
coordinates.
2. Image-to-image registration involves geo-referencing only if the reference image is already geo-referenced.
Geo-referencing, by itself, only involves changing the map coordinate information in the image file. The grid
of the image does not change.

Disadvantages of rectification
During rectification, the data file values of rectified pixels must be resampled to fit in to new grid. This may result
in loss of spectral integrity of data. If map coordinates are not needed in application, then it is advisable not to

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rectify the data. An unrectified image is spectrally more correct than rectified data. It is recommended to classify
before rectification because classification will be based on original data values.

Correction of geometric distortions

Broadly three methods are employed to correct geometrical distortions:
(a) Parametric or model-based method: The satellite position can be estimated with the help of laws and theories
of orbital mechanics, using various parameters related to the earth and satellite orbit namely, the earth's ellipsoid
axes, the satellite orbit semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination, argument of perigee, longitude of ascending
node and true anomaly. In this way, a set of spatial transformation is established between real-world (map) and
image plane.

(b) Non-parametric or GCP-based method

Geometric distortions are rectified by defining a spatial transformation, which establishes a spatial
correspondence between ground control points (GCPs) of reference map and the image to be corrected. Since the
method is dependent on the GCPs, it is also known as GCP-based method.

(c) Combination of Parametric and GCP-based methods

In the model-based GC approach, the variations in the orbital parameters limit the accuracy attained. Two main
sources of errors: altitude and attitude variations can be rectified using some GCPs. Hence, the hybrid method
utilizes limited set of GCPs for the improvement of the accuracy.
GCPs are points that can be easily identified on map and image to be corrected for geometric distortion. There
should be sufficiently large number of well-distributed and temporally invariant GCPs for good geometric
correction. The GCP based geometric correction involves two stages:
 Spatial interpolation stage: The unknown spatial relationship between the distorted image and map can be
defined by using various techniques such as polynomial fitting using least squares method, Delaunay
triangulation etc.
 Intensity interpolation stage: This stage fills pixel values in the corrected spatial grid. This process of
interpolation from the sampled values of signals for the image reconstruction is known as image resampling
or intensity interpolation.
 Various widely used methods of resampling in RS are nearest neighbour, bilinear, cubic convolution, B-
spline etc.
 The nearest neighbour approach, also called the zero-order interpolation, is the simplest of all methods.
The linear interpolation method when extended to two dimensions is called the bilinear or the first order
interpolation. The higher order interpolation involves fitting some curve to the interpolation function.
For example, cubic convolution is an interpolation method using two cubic polynomials.

Spatial interpolation
It establishes geometrical relationship between image to be corrected and the correct reference map. A least
squares polynomial function can be used to express the functional relationship between these coordinate systems
(Map: (X, Y) and distorted image: (C, R)) as follows:

(i) X as a function of C and R ; X = f1 ( C, R ).

(ii) Y as a function of C and R ; Y = f2 ( C, R ).

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 (iii) C as a function of X and Y ; C = f3 ( X, Y ).
(iv) R as a function of X and Y ; R = f3 ( X, Y ).

Fig.: Spatial interpolation

In order to map the complete output image, corner coordinates are transformed first by using the computed
forward mapping function. Using these coordinates a bounding box is prepared and further this box is divided
into a grid of desired pixel size. After obtaining the image grid, for each output pixel location, corresponding
input location is found by a backward transformation function. Figure shows two rectangles ABCD and PQRS
representing the uncorrected and corrected image boundaries respectively.

Intensity interpolation
Intensity interpolation is the process of determining the pixel value at positions lying between various samples.
There are three widely used methods of intensity interpolation:
(i) Nearest neighbour (NN)
(ii) Bilinear interpolation
(iii) Cubic Convolution