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Newsletter:  May 2002/ Issue 2
Imaging Science Increases Treaty Verification Capabilities

Advances under the Imaging Science and Technology Initiative (ISAT) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are increasing capabilities in treaty verification and the promotion of regional stability. On a local level, satellite and remote sensing technologies are enhancing the ability of treaty members to monitor for compliance, helping to build transparency between nations, and lending credibility to multilateral agreements. On the regional scale, imaging can be used to characterize factors influencing stability such as environmental changes and crop yields.

“ISAT focuses on the branch of imaging called digital imaging processing,” says Doug Lemon, ISAT director. “The challenge in digital imaging processing can be seen by examining the imaging process. When a satellite takes an image, it converts the reflected electromagnetic energy into a series of intensity measurements over a two-dimensional square grid or set of pixels... (rendering) a “pixelized” set of measurements derived from the real object. The challenge of the digital imaging process is to extract from the pixel values the characteristics of the underlying object, and then, to determine the nature of class to which the object belongs.”

The initiative began 18 months ago. Since then, “good progress had been made in developing new algorithms for image registration, feature extraction, and change detection,” explains Lemon. Technologies exploit three sources of information: spectral intensity, spatial characteristics, and changes in the measurements over time. So through analyzing information in a series of images, it is possible to estimate an object’s shape, composition and detect changes.

There are presently two major shifts in the initiative’s focus. The first shift entails placing more effort on the integration of image processing techniques in order to address specific challenges in remote sensing, biology and materials characterization. The second is a shift toward three- and four-dimension representations of digital data, rather than the current flat or two-dimensional representations.

“These high dimensionality images will provide better insights into the composition of materials on the ground, changes in the environment, or man-made impacts such as the construction of new buildings,” explains Lemon.

Another challenge, directly relevant to global security is the difficulty in monitoring large land areas. The quantity of data becomes difficult to manage, making it overwhelming and limiting its use.

“One goal of ISAT is to develop smart tools that can scan vast amounts of imagery and then call attention to areas that should be reviewed by human experts,” says Lemon. “In conjunction with this, we are teaming with experts in high performance computing to develop an image analysis architecture specifically created for high speed processing of images… These efforts are expected to enable new applications of remote sensing that were previously too time consuming to be practical.”

The impact of these developments on security efforts is that it will be possible to monitor more and larger areas for compliance. Furthermore, this increased monitoring capacity will make it easier to identify threats to stability, such as conditions threatening fisheries, or other important resources.

Other goals under the initiative include increasing resolution and image quality, which would facilitate the detection and extraction of features, and the tracking of changes from image to image. Another is the interlinking of software programs and integration of their functions, making data much more manageable. Also, in addition to multidimensional images, the ISAT team is pursuing the development of capabilities that will enable greater interaction between humans and data sets through the use of holograms, and the ability to change or move data by touch and with gestures.

“We have made some good progress,” says Lemon when asked about the program’s success. “We have also developed some innovative visualization techniques.”