MultiEarth 2023 Deforestation Challenge -- Team FOREVER

It is important problem to accurately estimate deforestation of satellite imagery since this approach can analyse extensive area without direct human access. However, it is not simple problem because of difficulty in observing the clear ground surface due to extensive cloud cover during long rainy season. In this paper, we present a multi-view learning strategy to predict deforestation status in the Amazon rainforest area with latest deep neural network models. Multi-modal dataset consists of three types of different satellites imagery, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 is utilized to train and predict deforestation status. MMsegmentation framework is selected to apply comprehensive data augmentation and diverse networks. The proposed method effectively and accurately predicts the deforestation status of new queries.

MultiEarth 2022 Deforestation Challenge -- ForestGump

The estimation of deforestation in the Amazon Forest is challenge task because of the vast size of the area and the difficulty of direct human access. However, it is a crucial problem in that deforestation results in serious environmental problems such as global climate change, reduced biodiversity, etc. In order to effectively solve the problems, satellite imagery would be a good alternative to estimate the deforestation of the Amazon. With a combination of optical images and Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, observation of such a massive area regardless of weather conditions become possible. In this paper, we present an accurate deforestation estimation method with conventional UNet and comprehensive data processing. The diverse channels of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 are carefully selected and utilized to train deep neural networks. With the proposed method, deforestation status for novel queries are successfully estimated with high accuracy.

Vehicle Routing Problem with Vector Profits (VRPVP) with Max-Min Criterion

This paper introduces a new routing problem referred to as the vehicle routing problem with vector profits. Given a network composed of nodes (depot/sites) and arcs connecting the nodes, the problem determines routes that depart from the depot, visit sites to collect profits, and return to the depot. There are multiple stakeholders interested in the mission and each site is associated with a vector whose k-th element represents the profit value for the k-th stakeholder. The objective of the problem is to maximize the profit sum for the least satisfied stakeholder, i.e., the stakeholder with the smallest total profit value. An approach based on the linear programming relaxation and column-generation to solve this max-min type routing problem was developed. Two cases studies - the planetary surface exploration and the Rome tour cases - were presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed problem formulation and solution methodology.