Heuristical choice of SVM parameters

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is one of the most popular classification methods, and a de-facto reference for many Machine Learning approaches. Its performance is determined by parameter selection, which is usually achieved by a time-consuming grid search cross-validation procedure. There exist, however, several unsupervised heuristics that take advantage of the characteristics of the dataset for selecting parameters instead of using class label information. Unsupervised heuristics, while an order of magnitude faster, are scarcely used under the assumption that their results are significantly worse than those of grid search. To challenge that assumption we have conducted a wide study of various heuristics for SVM parameter selection on over thirty datasets, in both supervised and semi-supervised scenarios. In most cases, the cross-validation grid search did not achieve a significant advantage over the heuristics. In particular, heuristical parameter selection may be preferable for high dimensional and unbalanced datasets or when a small number of examples is available. Our results also show that using a heuristic to determine the starting point of further cross-validation does not yield significantly better results than the default start.

Stable training of autoencoders for hyperspectral unmixing

Neural networks, autoencoders in particular, are one of the most promising solutions for unmixing hyperspectral data, i.e. reconstructing the spectra of observed substances (endmembers) and their relative mixing fractions (abundances). Unmixing is needed for effective hyperspectral analysis and classification. However, as we show in this paper, the training of autoencoders for unmixing is highly dependent on weights initialisation. Some sets of weights lead to degenerate or low performance solutions, introducing negative bias in expected performance. In this work we present the results of experiments investigating autoencoders' stability, verifying the dependence of reconstruction error on initial weights and exploring conditions needed for successful optimisation of autoencoder parameters.

Hyperspectral classification of blood-like substances using machine learning methods combined with genetic algorithms in transductive and inductive scenarios

This study is focused on applying genetic algorithms (GA) to model and band selection in hyperspectral image classification. We use a forensic-inspired data set of seven hyperspectral images with blood and five visually similar substances to test GA-optimised classifiers in two scenarios: when the training and test data come from the same image and when they come from different images, which is a more challenging task due to significant spectra differences. In our experiments we compare GA with a classic model optimisation through grid search. Our results show that GA-based model optimisation can reduce the number of bands and create an accurate classifier that outperforms the GS-based reference models, provided that during model optimisation it has access to examples similar to test data. We illustrate this with experiment highlighting the importance of a validation set.

A Dataset for Evaluating Blood Detection in Hyperspectral Images

The sensitivity of imaging spectroscopy to hemoglobin derivatives makes it a promising tool for detecting blood. However, due to complexity and high dimensionality of hyperspectral images, the development of hyperspectral blood detection algorithms is challenging. To facilitate their development, we present a new hyperspectral blood detection dataset. This dataset, published in accordance to open access mandate, consist of multiple detection scenarios with varying levels of complexity. It allows to test the performance of Machine Learning methods in relation to different acquisition environments, types of background, age of blood and presence of other blood-like substances. We explored the dataset with blood detection experiments. We used hyperspectral target detection algorithm based on the well-known Matched Filter detector. Our results and their discussion highlight the challenges of blood detection in hyperspectral data and form a reference for further works

Band selection with Higher Order Multivariate Cumulants for small target detection in hyperspectral images

In the small target detection problem a pattern to be located is on the order of magnitude less numerous than other patterns present in the dataset. This applies both to the case of supervised detection, where the known template is expected to match in just a few areas and unsupervised anomaly detection, as anomalies are rare by definition. This problem is frequently related to the imaging applications, i.e. detection within the scene acquired by a camera. To maximize available data about the scene, hyperspectral cameras are used; at each pixel, they record spectral data in hundreds of narrow bands. The typical feature of hyperspectral imaging is that characteristic properties of target materials are visible in the small number of bands, where light of certain wavelength interacts with characteristic molecules. A target-independent band selection method based on statistical principles is a versatile tool for solving this problem in different practical applications. Combination of a regular background and a rare standing out anomaly will produce a distortion in the joint distribution of hyperspectral pixels. Higher Order Cumulants Tensors are a natural `window' into this distribution, allowing to measure properties and suggest candidate bands for removal. While there have been attempts at producing band selection algorithms based on the 3 rd cumulant's tensor i.e. the joint skewness, the literature lacks a systematic analysis of how the order of the cumulant tensor used affects effectiveness of band selection in detection applications. In this paper we present an analysis of a general algorithm for band selection based on higher order cumulants. We discuss its usability related to the observed breaking points in performance, depending both on method order and the desired number of bands. Finally we perform experiments and evaluate these methods in a hyperspectral detection scenario.