Noise in remote-sensing systems - The effect on classification error

Several types of noise in remote-sensing systems are treated. The purpose is to provide enhanced understanding of the relationship of noise sources to both analysis results and sensor design. The context of optical sensors and spectral pattern recognition analysis methods is used to enable tractability for quantitative results. First, the concept of multispectral classification is reviewed. Next, stochastic models are discussed for both signals and noise, including thermal, shot and quantization noise along with atmospheric effects. A model enabling the study of the combined effect of these sources is presented, and a system performance index is defined. Theoretical results showing the interrelated effects of the noise sources on system performance are given. Results of simulations using the system model are presented for several values of system parameters, using some noise parameters of the Thematic Mapper scanner as an illustration. Results show the relative importance of each of the noise sources on system performance, including how sensor noise interacts with atmospheric effects to degrade accuracy.