Self-organizing feature map neural network classification of the ASTER data based on wavelet fusion

Most methods for classification of remote sensing data are based on the statistical parameter evaluation with the assumption that the samples obey the normal distribution. However, more accurate classification results can be obtained with the neural network method through getting knowledge from environments and adjusting the parameter (or weight) step by step by a specific measurement. This paper focuses on the double-layer structured Kohonen self-organizing feature map (SOFM), for which all neurons within the two layers are linked one another and those of the competition layers are linked as well along the sides. Therefore, the self-adapting learning ability is improved due to the effective competition and suppression in this method. The SOFM has become a hot topic in the research area of remote sensing data classification. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) is a new satellite-borne remote sensing instrument with three 15-m resolution bands and three 30-m resolution bands at the near infrared. The ASTER data of Dagang district, Tianjin Municipality is used as the test data in this study. At first, the wavelet fusion is carried out to make the spatial resolutions of the ASTER data identical; then, the SOFM method is applied to classifying the land cover types. The classification results are compared with those of the maximum likelihood method (MLH). As a consequence, the classification accuracy of SOFM increases about by 7% in general and, in particular, it is almost as twice as that of the MLH method in the town.