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The Optimization of Trained and Untrained Image Classification Algorithms for Use on Large Spatial Datasets

The HARVIST project seeks to automatically provide an accurate, interactive interface to predict crop yield over the entire United States. In order to accomplish this goal, large images must be quickly and automatically classified by crop type. Current trained and untrained classification algorithms, while accurate, are highly inefficient when operating on large datasets. This project sought to develop new variants of two standard trained and untrained classification algorithms that are optimized to take advantage of the spatial nature of image data. The first algorithm, harvist-cluster, utilizes divide-and-conquer techniques to precluster an image in the hopes of increasing overall clustering speed. The second algorithm, harvistSVM, utilizes support vector machines (SVMs), a type of trained classifier. It seeks to increase classification speed by applying a "meta-SVM" to a quick (but inaccurate) SVM to approximate a slower, yet more accurate, SVM. Speedups were achieved by tuning the algorithm to quickly identify when the quick SVM was incorrect, and then reclassifying low-confidence pixels as necessary. Comparing the classification speeds of both algorithms to known baselines showed a slight speedup for large values of k (the number of clusters) for harvist-cluster, and a significant speedup for harvistSVM. Future work aims to automate the parameter tuning process required for harvistSVM, and further improve classification accuracy and speed. Additionally, this research will move documents created in Canvas into ArcGIS. The launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will provide a wealth of image data such as global maps of Martian weather and high resolution global images of Mars. The ability to store this new data in a georeferenced format will support future Mars missions by providing data for landing site selection and the search for water on Mars.

Kocurek, Michael J.

Classifying Agnostic Biosignatures using Raman, VNIR, and Elemental Data

How can we use our current wealth of terrestrial data, encompassing biogenic and abiogenic systems, to determine the distinguishing properties of life? SCOBI (Statistical Classification of Biosignature Information) uses machine learning techniques to algorithmically identify combinations of measurements that are “indicative of life”. A set of ~1000 observations, comprising elemental abundance, isotopic fractionation, VNIR reflectance, and (in progress) Raman spectra, have been assembled from existing literature and databases. The observations cover systems classified as “indicative alive” (e.g., cells, vegetation), “indicative non-alive” (e.g., fossils, teeth), “mixed indicative” (e.g., soil, pond water), or “non-indicative” (e.g., rocks, meteorites). VNIR data was preprocessed by linear interpolation from 400-2100 nm and smoothed with a Savitzky-Golay filter. To limit the amount of Earth-biochemistry-specific (non-agnostic) information included, the first five spectral features extracted were number of peaks, number of troughs, mean reflectance, mean peak width, and broadest peak width. To help further emphasize agnostic biosignatures, Earth-specific features such as chlorophylls have been manually flagged so that feature importance with and without them can be compared. Classifiers including k-nearest neighbors (KNN), Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) were implemented, as was a combination voting classifier. Performance metrics included false positive rates, false negative rates, and AUC with 50-50 test/train splits (Monte Carlo simulations). Key takeaways from this stage, prior to the inclusion of Raman spectra, are (1) the overall success rate of 0.933 AUC was most heavily influenced by the elemental abundance data; and (2) VNIR reflectance had the lowest classification performance with 0.52 AUC (58% of objects correctly classified). The next steps are to complete integration of Raman spectral data and to improve the approach to pre-processing and feature extraction for both types of spectral data, such as automated baseline removal, whole spectrum matching, and dimensionality reduction.

Biosignatures

Algorithmic Detection of Elemental Biosignatures

Machine learning models that classify a sample as indicative or non-indicative of life could play an important role in life-detection missions. Their predictions result from agnostic algorithms and thereby add redundancy to judgements resulting from human expertise. Additionally, their important features can reveal the most informative measurements within the operational constraints of a life-detection mission. The Ladder of Life Detection (Neveu 2018) identifies the need for an understanding of how combinations of multiple biosignatures affect overall confidence. The present work provides a starting point to answer this need, and future work will expand the data types to obtain even more predictive combinations of features. Elemental abundance was chosen as a starting set of features due to its availability in diverse sample types, which are needed to train a generalizable model. A standardized dataset was collected, including 35 non-indicative, e.g., lunar rock, basalt; 19 indicative mixed, e.g., seawater, agricultural soil; 46 indicative non-alive, e.g., coal, chalk; and 10 indicative alive, e.g., biofilm, bacteria. This dataset could be valuable for complementary biosignature research. The samples were standardized to the same limit of detection of a simulated mission scenario. Four classification models were used: k-nearest neighbors (KNN), logistic regression (LR), linear support vector machines (SVM), and Gaussian naïve Bayes (GNB). To obtain feature importances, KNN was run on three principal components of the training data and LR and SVM were run with L1 and L2 regularization. The performances and feature importances of the six model variants on 40:60 train to validation ratios were assessed with Monte Carlo simulations. ROC AUC and mean accuracy scores ranged between 82% - 94%, with sensitivity greater than specificity. For indicative of life predictors, all models had C and Ca as strong and Cl as medium; a majority of models had N, K, and P as medium. For non-indicative of life predictors, all models had Si as strong, and a majority of models had Mg, Al, and Ti as medium. Varied elements were Fe (slightly non-indicative), H (slightly indicative), O (widely varied), Na, Mn, and S. These results serve as a proof of concept and suggest important elemental signals beyond merely the CHNOPS of Earth-based life.

Algorithmic

Enhancing and Archiving the APS Catalog of the POSS I

We have worked on two different projects: 1) Archiving the APS Catalog of the POSS I for distribution to NASA's NED at IPAC, SIMBAD in France, and individual astronomers and 2) The automated morphological classification of galaxies. We have completed archiving the Catalog into easily readable binary files. The database together with the software to read it has been distributed on DVD's to the national and international data centers and to individual astronomers. The archived Catalog contains more than 89 million objects in 632 fields in the first epoch Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Additional image parameters not available in the original on-line version are also included in the archived version. The archived Catalog is also available and can be queried at the APS web site (URL: http://aps.umn.edu) which has been improved with a much faster and more efficient querying system. The Catalog can be downloaded as binary datafiles with the source code for reading it. It is also being integrated into the SkyQuery system which includes the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, 2MASS, and the FIRST radio sky survey. We experimented with different classification algorithms to automate the morphological classification of galaxies. This is an especially difficult problem because there are not only a large number of attributes or parameters and measurement uncertainties, but also the added complication of human disagreement about the adopted types. To solve this problem we used 837 galaxy images from nine POSS I fields at the North Galactic Pole classified by two independent astronomers for which they agree on the morphological types. The initial goal was to separate the galaxies into the three broad classes relevant to issues of large scale structure and galaxy formation and evolution: early (ellipticals and lenticulars), spirals, and late (irregulars) with an accuracy or success rate that rivals the best astronomer classifiers. We also needed to identify a set of parameters derived from the digitized images that separate the galaxies by type. The human eye can easily recognize complicated patterns in images such as spiral arms which can be spotty, blotchy affairs that are difficult for automated techniques. A galaxy image can potentially be described by hundreds of parameters, all of which may have some relation to the morphological type. In the set of initial experiments we used 624 such parameters, in two colors, blue and red. These parameters include the surface brightness and color measured at different radii, ratios of these parameters at different radii, concentration indices, Fourier transforms and wavelet decomposition coefficients. We experimented with three different classes of classification algorithms; decision trees, k-nearest neighbors, and support vector machines (SVM). A range of experiments were conducted and we eventually narrowed the parameters to 23 selected parameters. SVM consistently outperformed the other algorithms with both sets of features. By combining the results from the different algorithms in a weighted scheme we achieved an overall classification success of 86%.

Humphreys, Roberta M.

Discrimination of Single Base Pair Differences Among Individual DNA Molecules Using a Nanopore

The protein toxin alpha-hemolysin form nanometer scale channels across lipid membranes. Our lab uses a single channel in an artificial lipid bilayer in a patch clamp device to capture and examine individual DNA molecules. This nanopore detector used with a support vector machine (SVM) can analyze DNA hairpin molecules on the millisecond time scale. We distinguish duplex stem length, base pair mismatches, loop length, and single base pair differences. The residual current fluxes also reveal structural molecular dynamics elements. DNA end-fraying (terminal base pair dissociation) can be observed as near full blockades, or spikes, in current. This technique can be used to investigate other biological processes dependent on DNA end-fraying, such as the processing of HIV DNA by HIV integrase.

Vercoutere, Wenonah

Virtual Sensors: Using Data Mining to Efficiently Estimate Spectra

Detecting clouds within a satellite image is essential for retrieving surface geophysical parameters, such as albedo and temperature, from optical and thermal imagery because the retrieval methods tend to be valid for clear skies only. Thus, routine satellite data processing requires reliable automated cloud detection algorithms that are applicable to many surface types. Unfortunately, cloud detection over snow and ice is difficult due to the lack of spectral contrast between clouds and snow. Snow and clouds are both highly reflective in the visible wavelen,ats and often show little contrast in the thermal Infrared. However, at 1.6 microns, the spectral signatures of snow and clouds differ enough to allow improved snow/ice/cloud discrimination. The recent Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MODIS) sensors have a channel (channel 6) at 1.6 microns. Presently the most comprehensive, long-term information on surface albedo and temperature over snow- and ice-covered surfaces comes from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer ( AVHRR) sensor that has been providing imagery since July 1981. The earlier AVHRR sensors (e.g. AVHRR/2) did not however have a channel designed for discriminating clouds from snow, such as the 1.6 micron channel available on the more recent AVHRR/3 or the MODIS sensors. In the absence of the 1.6 micron channel, the AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APP) product performs cloud detection using a combination of time-series analysis and multispectral threshold tests based on the satellite's measuring channels to produce a cloud mask. The method has been found to work reasonably well over sea ice, but not so well over the ice sheets. Thus, improving the cloud mask in the APP dataset would be extremely helpful toward increasing the accuracy of the albedo and temperature retrievals, as well as extending the time-series of albedo and temperature retrievals from the more recent sensors to the historical ones. In this work, we use data mining methods to construct a model of MODIS channel 6 as a function of other channels that are common to both MODIS and AVHRR. The idea is to use the model to generate the equivalent of MODIS channel 6 for AVHRR as a function of the AVHRR equivalents to MODIS channels. We call this a Virtual Sensor because it predicts unmeasured spectra. The goal is to use this virtual channel 6. to yield a cloud mask superior to what is currently used in APP . Our results show that several data mining methods such as multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), ensemble methods (e.g., bagging), and kernel methods (e.g., support vector machines) generate channel 6 for unseen MODIS images with high accuracy. Because the true channel 6 is not available for AVHRR images, we qualitatively assess the virtual channel 6 for several AVHRR images.

Srivastava, Ashok

Virtual Sensors: Using Data Mining Techniques to Efficiently Estimate Remote Sensing Spectra

Various instruments are used to create images of the Earth and other objects in the universe in a diverse set of wavelength bands with the aim of understanding natural phenomena. These instruments are sometimes built in a phased approach, with some measurement capabilities being added in later phases. In other cases, there may not be a planned increase in measurement capability, but technology may mature to the point that it offers new measurement capabilities that were not available before. In still other cases, detailed spectral measurements may be too costly to perform on a large sample. Thus, lower resolution instruments with lower associated cost may be used to take the majority of measurements. Higher resolution instruments, with a higher associated cost may be used to take only a small fraction of the measurements in a given area. Many applied science questions that are relevant to the remote sensing community need to be addressed by analyzing enormous amounts of data that were generated from instruments with disparate measurement capability. This paper addresses this problem by demonstrating methods to produce high accuracy estimates of spectra with an associated measure of uncertainty from data that is perhaps nonlinearly correlated with the spectra. In particular, we demonstrate multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs), Support Vector Machines (SVMs) with Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernels, and SVMs with Mixture Density Mercer Kernels (MDMK). We call this type of an estimator a Virtual Sensor because it predicts, with a measure of uncertainty, unmeasured spectral phenomena.

Srivastava, Ashok N.

Generation and Performance of Automated Jarosite Mineral Detectors for Vis/NIR Spectrometers at Mars

Sulfate salt discoveries at the Eagle and Endurance craters in Meridiani Planum by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have proven mineralogically the existence and involvement of water in Mars past. Visible and near infrared spectrometers like the Mars Express OMEGA, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM and the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Rover cameras are powerful tools for the identification of water-bearing salts and other high priority minerals at Mars. The increasing spectral resolution and rover mission lifetimes represented by these missions currently necessitate data compression in order to ease downlink restrictions. On board data processing techniques can be used to guide the selection, measurement and return of scientifically important data from relevant targets, thus easing bandwidth stress and increasing scientific return. We have developed an automated support vector machine (SVM) detector operating in the visible/near-infrared (VisNIR, 300-2500 nm) spectral range trained to recognize the mineral jarosite (typically KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6), positively identified by the Mossbauer spectrometer at Meridiani Planum. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Gilmore, M. S.

A Parallel Processing Algorithm for Remote Sensing Classification

A current thread in parallel computation is the use of cluster computers created by networking a few to thousands of commodity general-purpose workstation-level commuters using the Linux operating system. For example on the Medusa cluster at NASA/GSFC, this provides for super computing performance, 130 G(sub flops) (Linpack Benchmark) at moderate cost, $370K. However, to be useful for scientific computing in the area of Earth science, issues of ease of programming, access to existing scientific libraries, and portability of existing code need to be considered. In this paper, I address these issues in the context of tools for rendering earth science remote sensing data into useful products. In particular, I focus on a problem that can be decomposed into a set of independent tasks, which on a serial computer would be performed sequentially, but with a cluster computer can be performed in parallel, giving an obvious speedup. To make the ideas concrete, I consider the problem of classifying hyperspectral imagery where some ground truth is available to train the classifier. In particular I will use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach as applied to hyperspectral imagery. The approach will be to introduce notions about parallel computation and then to restrict the development to the SVM problem. Pseudocode (an outline of the computation) will be described and then details specific to the implementation will be given. Then timing results will be reported to show what speedups are possible using parallel computation. The paper will close with a discussion of the results.

Gualtieri, J. Anthony

Spoken Language Processing in the Clarissa Procedure Browser

Clarissa, an experimental voice enabled procedure browser that has recently been deployed on the International Space Station, is as far as we know the first spoken dialog system in space. We describe the objectives of the Clarissa project and the system's architecture. In particular, we focus on three key problems: grammar-based speech recognition using the Regulus toolkit; methods for open mic speech recognition; and robust side-effect free dialogue management for handling undos, corrections and confirmations. We first describe the grammar-based recogniser we have build using Regulus, and report experiments where we compare it against a class N-gram recogniser trained off the same 3297 utterance dataset. We obtained a 15% relative improvement in WER and a 37% improvement in semantic error rate. The grammar-based recogniser moreover outperforms the class N-gram version for utterances of all lengths from 1 to 9 words inclusive. The central problem in building an open-mic speech recognition system is being able to distinguish between commands directed at the system, and other material (cross-talk), which should be rejected. Most spoken dialogue systems make the accept/reject decision by applying a threshold to the recognition confidence score. NASA shows how a simple and general method, based on standard approaches to document classification using Support Vector Machines, can give substantially better performance, and report experiments showing a relative reduction in the task-level error rate by about 25% compared to the baseline confidence threshold method. Finally, we describe a general side-effect free dialogue management architecture that we have implemented in Clarissa, which extends the "update semantics'' framework by including task as well as dialogue information in the information state. We show that this enables elegant treatments of several dialogue management problems, including corrections, confirmations, querying of the environment, and regression testing.

Rayner, M.

Kernel PLS-SVC for Linear and Nonlinear Discrimination

A new methodology for discrimination is proposed. This is based on kernel orthonormalized partial least squares (PLS) dimensionality reduction of the original data space followed by support vector machines for classification. Close connection of orthonormalized PLS and Fisher's approach to linear discrimination or equivalently with canonical correlation analysis is described. This gives preference to use orthonormalized PLS over principal component analysis. Good behavior of the proposed method is demonstrated on 13 different benchmark data sets and on the real world problem of the classification finger movement periods versus non-movement periods based on electroencephalogram.

Rosipal, Roman

Experiments on Supervised Learning Algorithms for Text Categorization

Modern information society is facing the challenge of handling massive volume of online documents, news, intelligence reports, and so on. How to use the information accurately and in a timely manner becomes a major concern in many areas. While the general information may also include images and voice, we focus on the categorization of text data in this paper. We provide a brief overview of the information processing flow for text categorization, and discuss two supervised learning algorithms, viz., support vector machines (SVM) and partial least squares (PLS), which have been successfully applied in other domains, e.g., fault diagnosis [9]. While SVM has been well explored for binary classification and was reported as an efficient algorithm for text categorization, PLS has not yet been applied to text categorization. Our experiments are conducted on three data sets: Reuter's- 21578 dataset about corporate mergers and data acquisitions (ACQ), WebKB and the 20-Newsgroups. Results show that the performance of PLS is comparable to SVM in text categorization. A major drawback of SVM for multi-class categorization is that it requires a voting scheme based on the results of pair-wise classification. PLS does not have this drawback and could be a better candidate for multi-class text categorization.

Namburu, Setu Madhavi

Fault Diagnosis in HVAC Chillers

Modern buildings are being equipped with increasingly sophisticated power and control systems with substantial capabilities for monitoring and controlling the amenities. Operational problems associated with heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems plague many commercial buildings, often the result of degraded equipment, failed sensors, improper installation, poor maintenance, and improperly implemented controls. Most existing HVAC fault-diagnostic schemes are based on analytical models and knowledge bases. These schemes are adequate for generic systems. However, real-world systems significantly differ from the generic ones and necessitate modifications of the models and/or customization of the standard knowledge bases, which can be labor intensive. Data-driven techniques for fault detection and isolation (FDI) have a close relationship with pattern recognition, wherein one seeks to categorize the input-output data into normal or faulty classes. Owing to the simplicity and adaptability, customization of a data-driven FDI approach does not require in-depth knowledge of the HVAC system. It enables the building system operators to improve energy efficiency and maintain the desired comfort level at a reduced cost. In this article, we consider a data-driven approach for FDI of chillers in HVAC systems. To diagnose the faults of interest in the chiller, we employ multiway dynamic principal component analysis (MPCA), multiway partial least squares (MPLS), and support vector machines (SVMs). The simulation of a chiller under various fault conditions is conducted using a standard chiller simulator from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). We validated our FDI scheme using experimental data obtained from different types of chiller faults.

Choi, Kihoon

MISR Level 2 TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters (MIL2TCCL_V2)

The TOA/Cloud Classifiers contain the Angular Signature Cloud Mask (ASCM), a scene classifier calculated using support vector machine technology (SVM) both of which are on a 1.1 km grid, and cloud fractions at 17.6 km resolution that are available in different height bins (low, middle, high) and are also calculated on an angle-by-angle basis. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=17.6 km; Longitude_Resolution=17.6 km; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly, Daily - < Weekly].

AM-1

MISR Level 2 TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters (MIL2TCCL_V3)

The TOA/Cloud Classifiers contain the Angular Signature Cloud Mask (ASCM), a scene classifier calculated using support vector machine technology (SVM) both of which are on a 1.1 km grid, and cloud fractions at 17.6 km resolution that are available in different height bins (low, middle, high) and are also calculated on an angle-by-angle basis. [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1.1 km; Longitude_Resolution=1.1 km; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day].

CLOUD MASK

FPGA Coprocessor for Accelerated Classification of Images

An effort related to that described in the preceding article focuses on developing a spaceborne processing platform for fast and accurate onboard classification of image data, a critical part of modern satellite image processing. The approach again has been to exploit the versatility of recently developed hybrid Virtex-4FX field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to run diverse science applications on embedded processors while taking advantage of the reconfigurable hardware resources of the FPGAs. In this case, the FPGA serves as a coprocessor that implements legacy C-language support-vector-machine (SVM) image-classification algorithms to detect and identify natural phenomena such as flooding, volcanic eruptions, and sea-ice break-up. The FPGA provides hardware acceleration for increased onboard processing capability than previously demonstrated in software. The original C-language program demonstrated on an imaging instrument aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite implements a linear-kernel SVM algorithm for classifying parts of the images as snow, water, ice, land, or cloud or unclassified. Current onboard processors, such as on EO-1, have limited computing power, extremely limited active storage capability and are no longer considered state-of-the-art. Using commercially available software that translates C-language programs into hardware description language (HDL) files, the legacy C-language program, and two newly formulated programs for a more capable expanded-linear-kernel and a more accurate polynomial-kernel SVM algorithm, have been implemented in the Virtex-4FX FPGA. In tests, the FPGA implementations have exhibited significant speedups over conventional software implementations running on general-purpose hardware.

Pingree, Paula J.

NASA Tech Briefs, November 2009

Topics covered include: Cryogenic Chamber for Servo-Hydraulic Materials Testing; Apparatus Measures Thermal Conductance Through a Thin Sample from Cryogenic to Room Temperature; Rover Attitude and Pointing System Simulation Testbed; Desktop Application Program to Simulate Cargo-Air-Drop Tests; Multimodal Friction Ignition Tester; Small-Bolt Torque-Tension Tester; Integrated Spacesuit Audio System Enhances Speech Quality and Reduces Noise; Hardware Implementation of a Bilateral Subtraction Filter; Simple Optoelectronic Feedback in Microwave Oscillators; Small X-Band Oscillator Antennas; Free-Space Optical Interconnect Employing VCSEL Diodes; Discrete Fourier Transform Analysis in a Complex Vector Space; Miniature Scroll Pumps Fabricated by LIGA; Self-Assembling, Flexible, Pre-Ceramic Composite Preforms; Flight-speed Integral Image Analysis Toolkit; Work Coordination Engine; Multi-Mission Automated Task Invocation Subsystem; Autonomously Calibrating a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer; Determining Spacecraft Reaction Wheel Friction Parameters; Composite Silica Aerogels Opacified with Titania; Multiplexed Colorimetric Solid-Phase Extraction; Detecting Airborne Mercury by Use of Polymer/Carbon Films; Lattice-Matched Semiconductor Layers on Single Crystalline Sapphire Substrate; Pressure-Energized Seal Rings to Better Withstand Flows; Rollerjaw Rock Crusher; Microwave Sterilization and Depyrogenation System; Quantifying Therapeutic and Diagnostic Efficacy in 2D Microvascular Images; NiF2/NaF:CaF2/Ca Solid-State High-Temperature Battery Cells; Critical Coupling Between Optical Fibers and WGM Resonators; Microwave Temperature Profiler Mounted in a Standard Airborne Research Canister; Alternative Determination of Density of the Titan Atmosphere; Solar Rejection Filter for Large Telescopes; Automated CFD for Generation of Airfoil Performance Tables; Progressive Classification Using Support Vector Machines; Active Learning with Irrelevant Examples; A Data Matrix Method for Improving the Quantification of Element Percentages of SEM/EDX Analysis; Deployable Shroud for the International X-Ray Observatory; Improved Model of a Mercury Ring Damper; Optoelectronic pH Meter: Further Details; X-38 Advanced Sublimator; and Solar Simulator Represents the Mars Surface Solar Environment.

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Estimating Dust and Water Ice Content of the Martian Atmosphere From THEMIS Data

Researchers at JPL and Arizona State University conducted a comparative study of three candidate algorithms for estimating components of the Martian atmosphere, using raw (uncalibrated) data collected by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). THEMIS is an instrument onboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that acquires image data in five visible and nine infrared (IR) wavelength bands. The algorithms under study used data collected from eight of the nine IR bands to estimate the dust and water ice content of the atmosphere. Such an algorithm could be used in onboard data processing to trigger other algorithms that search for features of scientific interest and to reduce the volume of data transmitted to Earth. The algorithms studied were based on regression models. In the study, the optical depths estimated by these algorithms were compared with optical depths estimated in ground-based processing using fully calibrated data from both THEMIS and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). TES is an instrument onboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft that also observes the planet at infrared wavelengths, but at a lower spatial resolution than THEMIS does. Of the algorithms studied, the one that performed best was based on a Gaussian Support Vector Machine regression model. The test results indicated that this algorithm, operating on the raw data, had error rates that were within the uncertainty associated with the estimates obtained by the groundbased analysis of the fully calibrated data. This level of fidelity demonstrates that these algorithms are sufficiently accurate for use in an onboard setting.

Bandfield, Joshua