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At least 91 records · Page 5

Assessing the Use of SAR/Optical Data Fusion and TensorFlow for Improved Mangrove Mapping

Mangrove forests are found in intertidal zones of tropical regions around the world and provide important ecological and economic benefits – they are considered carbon sequesters, habitats for flora and fauna, and natural barriers to hurricanes and tsunamis. Wood from mangrove forests are used as fuel and building materials in surrounding coastal communities, therefore promoting local livelihoods. Despite the importance of these ecosystems, mangrove forests have historically been degraded in natural processes such as severe weather, and anthropogenic factors like conversion to agriculture and aquaculture. This study assesses change in mangrove forests in Nigeria and Mozambique from 2015 to 2018 using SAR and optical data fusion. Due to frequent cloud cover over the study area, SAR and optical data is fused to obtain gap-free imagery without clouds. Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-1 imagery is fused with TensorFlow, an open source platform used in developing machine learning models. The resulting images are classified to discriminate mangrove forest cover from other land cover types, and change is estimated using image differencing. Understanding the rates and magnitude of mangrove change across space and time can aid in identifying priority areas for forest regeneration, and can help construct sustainable management practices for the future.

Strattman, Katherine↗

Mapping Yearly Fine Resolution Global Surface Ozone through the Bayesian Maximum Entropy Data Fusion of Observations and Model Output for 1990–2017

Estimates of ground-level ozone concentrations are necessary to determine the human health burden of ozone. To support the Global Burden of Disease Study, we produce yearly fine resolution global surface ozone estimates from 1990 to 2017 through a data fusion of observations and models. As ozone observations are sparse in many populated regions, we use a novel combination of the M3Fusion and Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) methods. With M3Fusion, we create a multi-model composite by bias-correcting and weighting nine global atmospheric chemistry models based on their ability to predict observations (8,834 sites globally)in each region and year. BME is then used to integrate observations, such that estimates match observations at each monitoring site with the observational influence decreasing smoothly across space and time until the output matches the multi-model composite. After estimating at 0.5° resolution using BME, we add fine spatial detail from an additional model, yielding estimates at 0.1° resolution. Observed ozone is predicted more accurately (R2=0.81 at test point, 0.63 at 0.1°,0.62 at 0.5°) than the multi-model mean (R2=0.28 at 0.5°). Global ozone exposure is estimated to be increasing, driven by highly populated regions of Asia and Africa, despite decreases in the United States and Russia.

environmental modeling↗

O'Hare Airport roadway traffic prediction via data fusion and Gaussian process regression

This study proposes an approach of leveraging information gathered from multiple traffic data sources at different resolutions to obtain approximate inference on the traffic distribution of Chicago's O'Hare Airport area. Specifically, it proposes the ingestion of traffic datasets at different resolutions to build spatiotemporal models for predicting the distribution of traffic volume on the road network. Due to its good adaptability and flexibility for spatiotemporal data, the Gaussian process (GP) regression was employed to provide short-term forecasts using data collected by loop detectors (sensors) and supplemented by telematics data. The GP regression is used to make predictions of the distribution of the proportion of sensor data traffic volume represented by the telematics data for each location of the sensors. Consequently, the fitted GP model can be used to determine the approximate traffic distribution for a testing location outside of the training points. Policymakers in the transportation sector can find the results of this work helpful for making informed decisions relating to current and future transportation conditions in the area.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA Satellites and Data Fusion: A Case Study with Coral Reefs

As the world is experiencing a significant rise in both AI, Climate, and Space start-up companies, we are in a new wave of limitless innovation. NASA's statutory responsibility is to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof." (51 U.S.C. § 20112) In particular, through machine learning, the public data drawn from NASA’s space assets can provide insights for addressing climate-related problems here on Earth. And many climate start-up companies can benefit from leveraging this data, either for proof of concepts or their own missions. In the Fall of 2021, several scientists from NASA and Coral Vita led a Practicum with the Georgia Institute of Technology Masters in Data Analytics program. The Practicum saw two teams of students develop and implement machine learning models to infer, from CALIPSO satellite imagery, vitality properties upon satellite pass. This kind of capability can lead to real-time mapping of coral health around the world, giving organization an understanding of where to prioritize reef reconstitution.. In this presentation, we will highlight this use case and discuss other concrete applications in which space data is used to solve problems here on Earth.

Earth Sciences↗

Multimodal Data Fusion via Entropy Minimization

The use of gradient-based data-driven models to solve a range of real-world remote sensing problems can in practice be limited by the uniformity of available data. Use of data from disparate sensor types, resolutions, and qualities typically requires compromises based on assumptions that are made prior to model training and may not necessarily be optimal given over-arching objectives. For example, while deep neural networks (NNs) are state-of-the-art in a variety of target detection problems, training them typically requires either limiting the training data to a subset over which uniformity can be enforced or training independent models which subsequently require additional score fusion. The method we introduce here seeks to leverage the benefits of both approaches by allowing correlated inputs from different data sources to co-influence preferred model solutions, while maintaining flexibility over missing and mismatching data. In this work we propose a new data fusion technique for gradient updated models based on entropy minimization and experimentally validate it on a hyperspectral target detection dataset. We demonstrate superior performance compared to currently available techniques using a range of realistic data scenarios, where available data has limited spacial overlap and resolution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Continuity of A Global, Satellite-Based Terrestrial Primary Productivity Dataset in the VIIRS Era Achieved With Model-Data Fusion

The NASA Terra and Aqua satellites have been successfully operating for over two decades and have far exceeded their original 5‐year design life. However, the era of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) may be coming to a close as early as 2023. We conducted a comprehensive calibration and validation of the MODIS MOD17 product [1,2] and the potential for continuity of multi‐decadal ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP) and annual net primary productivity (NPP), using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensors aboard Suomi NPP and NOAA‐20. We combined an 18‐year record of eddy covariance flux tower measurements with hundreds of field measurements of NPP from the Oak Ridge National Laboratories Multi‐Biome collection to benchmark MODIS MOD17 Collection 6.1 (C61) and to develop the first terrestrial productivity estimates from VIIRS. Plant traits from the literature and the global TRY database [3,4] provide strong priors for identifying model parameters in a Bayesian model‐data fusion. As MODIS‐like observations are still needed for global environmental applications, the new VIIRS VNP17 product has the potential to extend these continuous estimates of global, terrestrial primary productivity beyond 2030.

K. Arthur Endsley↗

Air Quality Data Fusion with Sensors, Satellites, and Models

Poor air quality is a major global public health concern, which is only projected to get worse in coming years. A comprehensive understanding of current and potential future air quality and its key drivers spanning from local to global scales is needed to tackle this important problem. This presentation will outline the sources of information that we use to understand air quality, including ground-based measurements, satellites, and models. After giving an overview of these data sources and outlining their strengths and limitations, we will take a look at how they can be used together to give us a better picture of air quality locally and globally with data fusion techniques.

Carl Malings↗

The Distribution of Titanium in Lunar Soils on the Basis of Sensor and In Situ Data Fusion

A variety of remote-sensing measurements have been used to map the distribution of elements on the Moon as a means of providing constraints on the processes from which its crust and major terranes originated. Discussed here is Ti, which is incorporated into refractory minerals such as ilmenite during the latter stages of differentiation, and is thus a most useful element for understanding mare basalt petrogenesis. One of the earliest Ti maps showed Ti variations in nearside maria on the basis of groundbased spectral reflectance measurements. A map of Ti derived from gamma-ray measurements on Apollo 15 and 16 was produced at about the same time, and was improved upon considerably by Davis and coworkers, who effectively removed sources of spurious variation from Fe and Al or REE (e.g., Th) interference, and calibrated Ti on the bases of landing-site soil averages. In recent years, spectral reflectance measurements from Clementine have been used by Lucey and coworkers to produce global Ti distribution maps as well. As we indicated previously, the Lucey and Davis maps agree to first order. Meanwhile, we are using the concept of sensor data fusion to combine measurements from the AGR (Apollo gamma-ray) and CSR (Clementine Spectral Reflectance) techniques with ground truth from lunar soils to utilize the differences between the two maps to understand the distribution of Ti within lunar soil components, as we have done with Fe. This technique should be verified and applied on Lunar Prospector gamma-ray measurements of Ti, as the calibrated data become available within the next couple of years. Lunar Ti is found principally in the mineral ilmenite, and is associated with certain components of lunar soil: crystalline Ilmenite mineral fragments and high Ti-bearing glass. All data indicate that Ti is associated with maria and mafic minerals. In AGR and CSR datasets, Ti is highest on the nearside and in the maria, particularly in southern Serenitatis/northern Tranquillitatis and northwestern Procellarum. Unlike CSR-derived values, AGR Ti values show modest increase (up to 0.7%) on the northern farside. Both techniques show a primarily unimodal distribution with a shoulder in the high Ti direction and a primary mode at approximately 0.2% (0.15% for CSR and 0.25% for AGR data), but the AGR Ti data have more structure in the shoulder, including an apparent minor mode at 1.2% Ti, representing non-highland areas. Recalibrating the two datasets on the basis of matching the peaks and range on the histograms would not account for this additional structure in the AGR data. Low Ti areas, which occur predominantly on the farside, are not represented well in the lunar sample collection, although several meteorites thought to be of lunar highland origin show Ti abundances averaging about 0.2%. (Error bars on AGR Ti values are about 0.5%.) Gamma-ray measurements reflect intrinsic Ti surface composition, regardless of the physical or chemical state of Ti. Lucey and coworkers have attempted to produce an equivalent bulk Ti map by normalizing the spectral feature at 415 nm to remove the effects of physical variations from soil to soil. The normalization is based on laboratory measurements of available samples, primarily nearside maria, and is undoubtedly optimized for the proportions in which Ti- components are found in these soils. In particular, mare soils tend to have a much higher proportion of opaque mineral grains, which appears to be well correlated with Ti abundance. The relationship between Ti abundance and proportion of Ti-bearing glass (weighted for Ti abundance) is not as direct. Also shows the relationship between landing site soil average, AGR, and CSR Ti abundances (with CSR filtered to match resolution and field of view of AGR data). AGR Ti values show the best agreement with Ti soil averages, CSR Ti values being somewhat higher in high-Ti soils, and lower in low-Ti soils. These results would tend to support the argument that the technique for deriving Ti from the CSR measurements is optimized for one of the primary Ti-bearing components, most likely opaque mineral grains, and is thus over-compensating and reporting higher Ti values in mare areas, and underreporting Ti in highland areas with much lower proportions of opaque mineral grains. More information is contained in original.

Clark, P. E.↗

Data Fusion and Mining Techniques to Map Water Use and Drought across Spatial and Temporal Scales

As the world’s water resources come under increasing tension due to dual stressors of climate change and population growth, accurate knowledge of water consumption through evapotranspiration (ET) over a range in spatial scales will be critical in developing adaptation strategies. Remote sensing methods for monitoring consumptive water use (e.g, ET) are becoming increasingly important, especially in areas of significant water and food insecurity. One method to estimate ET from satellite-based methods, the Atmosphere Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) model uses the change in mid-morning land surface temperature to estimate the partitioning of sensible and latent heat fluxes which are then used to estimate daily ET. This presentation will outline several recent enhancements to the ALEXI modeling system, with a focus on global ET and drought monitoring. Until recently, ALEXI has been limited to areas with high resolution temporal sampling of geostationary sensors. The use of geostationary sensors makes global mapping a complicated process, especially for real-time applications, as data from as many as five different sensors are required to be ingested and harmonized to create a global mosaic. However, our research team has developed a new and novel method of using twice-daily observations from polar-orbiting sensors such as MODIS and VIIRS to estimate the mid-morning rise in LST that is used to drive the energy balance estimations within ALEXI. This allows the method to be applied globally using a single sensor (in this case, initially MODIS with a planned transition to VIIRS) rather than a global compositing of all available geostationary data. Other advantages of this new method include the higher spatial resolution provided by MODIS and VIIRS and the increased sampling at high latitudes where oblique view angles limit the utility of geostationary sensors. This presentation will focus on global applications for mapping water use and drought using data mining and data fusion across spatial scales extending from 5-km to 30-m “field-scale” estimates.

Christopher Hain↗

Open Source Scalable Data Services and Data Fusion for Biological and Environmental Sciences (SBIR Phase I Final Scientific/ Technical Report)

The overarching goal of the project is to develop an integrated open-source scientific data management system (Apache V2 license), ResonantEco, that meets the need of biological and environmental researchers and developers for data management, curation, and data processing for analyses with a wide range of scale and complexity. ResonantEco will provide web enabled data services with features such as unified data interfaces and federated views of data and metadata for heterogeneous data sources with an interactive web client for data exploration. Our use of the term fusion is taken from geospatial (GIS) domain where data fusion is often synonymous with data integration. In particular, data integration in ResonantEco involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of them.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Cross-source sensing data fusion for building occupancy prediction with adaptive lasso feature filtering

Fusing various sensing data sources can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of building occupancy detection. Fusing environmental sensors and wireless network signals are seldom studied for its computational and technical complexity. Here, this study aims to propose an integrated adaptive lasso model that is able to extract critical data features for environmental and Wi-Fi probe dual sensing sources. Through rapid feature extraction and process simplification, the proposed method aims to improve the computational efficiency of occupancy detecting models. To validate the proposed model, an onsite experiment was conducted to examine two occupancy data resolutions, (real-time and four-level occupancy resolutions). The results suggested that, among all twelve features, eight features are most relevant. The mean absolute error of the real-time occupancy can be reduced to 2.18 and F1_accuracy is about 84.36% for the four-level occupancy.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Space-Time Data fusion for Remote Sensing Applications

NASA has been collecting massive amounts of remote sensing data about Earth's systems for more than a decade. Missions are selected to be complementary in quantities measured, retrieval techniques, and sampling characteristics, so these datasets are highly synergistic. To fully exploit this, a rigorous methodology for combining data with heterogeneous sampling characteristics is required. For scientific purposes, the methodology must also provide quantitative measures of uncertainty that propagate input-data uncertainty appropriately. We view this as a statistical inference problem. The true but notdirectly- observed quantities form a vector-valued field continuous in space and time. Our goal is to infer those true values or some function of them, and provide to uncertainty quantification for those inferences. We use a spatiotemporal statistical model that relates the unobserved quantities of interest at point-level to the spatially aggregated, observed data. We describe and illustrate our method using CO2 data from two NASA data sets.

carbon dioxide↗

Probabilistic #D data fusion for multiresolution surface generation

In this paper we present an algorithm for adaptive resolution integration of 3D data collected from multiple distributed sensors. The input to the algorithm is a set of 3D surface points and associated sensor models. Using a probabilistic rule, a surface probability function is generated that represents the probability that a particular volume of space contains the surface. The surface probability function is represented using an octree data structure; regions of space with samples of large conariance are stored at a coarser level than regions of space containing samples with smaller covariance. The algorithm outputs an adaptive resolution surface generated by connecting points that lie on the ridge of surface probability with triangles scaled to match the local discretization of space given by the algorithm, we present results from 3D data generated by scanning lidar and structure from motion.

3D data fusion multiresolution surface generation ↗

Data Fusion of Very High Resolution Hyperspectral and Polarimetric SAR Imagery for Terrain Classification

Performing terrain classification with data from heterogeneous imaging modalities is a very challenging problem. The challenge is further compounded by very high spatial resolution. (In this paper we consider very high spatial resolution to be much less than a meter.) At very high resolution many additional complications arise, such as geometric differences in imaging modalities and heightened pixel-by-pixel variability due to inhomogeneity within terrain classes. In this paper we consider the fusion of very high resolution hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data. We introduce a framework that utilizes the probabilistic feature fusion (PFF) one-class classifier for data fusion and demonstrate the effect of making pixelwise, superpixel, and pixelwise voting (within a superpixel) terrain classification decisions. We show that fusing imaging modality data sets, combined with pixelwise voting within the spatial extent of superpixels, gives a robust terrain classification framework that gives a good balance between quantitative and qualitative results.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Facility Monitoring: A Qualitative Theory for Sensor Fusion

Data fusion and sensor management approaches have largely been implemented with centralized and hierarchical architectures. Numerical and statistical methods are the most common data fusion methods found in these systems. Given the proliferation and low cost of processing power, there is now an emphasis on designing distributed and decentralized systems. These systems use analytical/quantitative techniques or qualitative reasoning methods for date fusion.Based on other work by the author, a sensor may be treated as a highly autonomous (decentralized) unit. Each highly autonomous sensor (HAS) is capable of extracting qualitative behaviours from its data. For example, it detects spikes, disturbances, noise levels, off-limit excursions, step changes, drift, and other typical measured trends. In this context, this paper describes a distributed sensor fusion paradigm and theory where each sensor in the system is a HAS. Hence, given the reach qualitative information from each HAS, a paradigm and formal definitions are given so that sensors and processes can reason and make decisions at the qualitative level. This approach to sensor fusion makes it possible the implementation of intuitive (effective) methods to monitor, diagnose, and compensate processes/systems and their sensors. This paradigm facilitates a balanced distribution of intelligence (code and/or hardware) to the sensor level, the process/system level, and a higher controller level. The primary application of interest is in intelligent health management of rocket engine test stands.

Figueroa, Fernando↗