Search Results (26)

The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is a key vegetation biophysical variable extensively studied using various remote sensing platforms and applications. Most studies focused on retrieving LAI using remote sensing data have primarily applied visible to shortwave infrared (0.3–2.5 µm) data. While we have previously retrieved LAI using thermal infrared (TIR 2.5–14 µm) hyperspectral data under controlled laboratory conditions, this study aims to evaluate the reliability of our earlier findings using in situ and airborne TIR hyperspectral data. In this study, 36 plots, each 30 × 30 m in size, were randomly selected in the Bavarian Forest National Park in southeastern Germany. The EUFAR-TIR flight campaign, conducted on 6 July 2017, aligned with field data collection using an AISA Owl TIR hyperspectral sensor at 3 m spatial resolution. Statistical univariate and multivariate approaches have been applied to predict LAI using emissivity data. The LAI was derived using six narrowband indices, computed from all possible combinations of wavebands between 8 µm and 12.3 µm, via partial least squares regression (PLSR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models, applying the Levenberg–Marquardt and Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithms. The results indicated that compared to LAI estimation under controlled conditions, TIR narrowband indices demonstrated poor performance in estimating in situ LAI (R² = 0.28 and RMSE_CV = 0.02). Instead, it was observed that the PLSR model unexpectedly achieved higher prediction accuracy (R² = 0.86 and RMSE_CV = 0.36) in retrieving LAI compared to the ANN approach using the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (R² = 0.56, RMSE_CV = 0.71); however, it was outperformed by the Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithm (R² = 0.83, RMSE_CV = 0.18). The results revealed that wavebands located at 8.1 µm, 9.1 µm, 9.85–9.95 µm, and 9.99–10.27 µm are equally effective in predicting LAI, regardless of sensor or measurement/environmental conditions. Our findings have important implications for upscaling LAI predictions, as the identified wavebands are effective across varying conditions and align with the capabilities of upcoming thermal satellite missions such as Landsat Next and Copernicus LSTM. Full article

Enhancing the spatial resolution of gypsiferous soil detection, as a valuable baseline information layer, is beneficial for investigating agroecological processes and tackling land degradation in semi-arid environments. This study evaluates the performance of PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) and EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) satellites in estimating soil gypsum content and compares models trained on satellite imagery versus lab data. To this end, 242 bare-soil samples were collected from southeast Iran. Gypsum content was measured using acetone precipitation, and spectral reflectance was acquired using the ASD (Analytical Spectral Devices)-Fieldspec 3 spectroradiometer. The gypsum content was retrieved by optical data using three approaches: narrowband indices, spectral absorption features, and machine learning (ML) algorithms. Four machine learning algorithms, including PLSR (Partial Least Squares Regression), RF (Random Forest), SVR (Support Vector Regression), and GPR (Gaussian Process Regression), achieved excellent performance (RPD > 2.5). The results showcased that the difference soil index (DSI) achieved the highest R² scores of 0.96 (ASD), 0.79 (PRISMA), and 0.84 (EnMAP), slightly outperforming the normalized difference gypsum ratio (NDGI) and ratio soil index (RSI). Comparing the shape indices’, the slope parameter (SLP) index outperformed the half-area parameter (HAP) index. PRISMA, with SVR (R² ≥ 0.83), and EnMAP, with PLSR (R² ≥ 0.85), demonstrated that hyperspectral satellites proved reliable in detecting gypsum content, yielding results comparable to ASD with detailed algorithms. Full article

Fractional cointegration has been extensively examined in time series analysis, but its extension to heterogeneous panel data with unobserved heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence remains underdeveloped. This paper develops a robust framework for testing fractional cointegration in heterogeneous panel data, where unobserved heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and persistent shocks complicate traditional approaches. We propose the Bayesian Tapered Narrowband Least Squares (BTNBLS) estimator, which addresses three critical challenges: (1) spectral leakage in long-memory processes, mitigated via tapered periodograms; (2) precision loss in fractional parameter estimation, resolved through narrowband least squares; and (3) unobserved heterogeneity in cointegrating vectors (${\theta }_i$) and memory parameters ($\nu ,\delta$), modeled via hierarchical Bayesian priors. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that BTNBLS outperforms conventional estimators (OLS, NBLS, TNBLS), achieving minimal bias (0.041–0.256), near-nominal coverage probabilities (0.87–0.94), and robust control of Type 1 errors (0.01–0.07) under high cross-sectional dependence ($\rho =0.8$), while the Bayesian Chen–Hurvich test attains near-perfect power (up to 1.00) in finite samples. Applied to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in 18 fragile Sub-Saharan African economies, BTNBLS reveals statistically significant fractional cointegration between exchange rates and food price ratios in 15 countries ($p<0.05$), with a pooled estimate ($\widehat{\theta }=0.33$, $p<0.001$) indicating moderate but resilient long-run equilibrium adjustment. These results underscore the importance of Bayesian shrinkage and spectral tapering in panel cointegration analysis, offering policymakers a reliable tool to assess persistence of shocks in institutionally fragmented markets. Full article

In this paper, the problem of source localization using only frequency difference of arrival (FDOA) measurements is considered. A new FDOA-only localization technique is developed to determine the position of a narrow-band source. In this scenario, time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements are not normally useful because they may have large errors due to the received signal having a small bandwidth. Conventional localization algorithms such as the two-stage weighted least squares (TSWLS) method, which jointly exploits TDOA and FDOA measurements for positioning, are thus no longer applicable since they will suffer from the thresholding effect and yield meaningless localization results. FDOA-only localization is non-trivial, mainly due to the high nonlinearity inherent in FDOA equations. Even with two FDOA measurements being available, FDOA-only localization still requires finding the roots of a high-order polynomial. For practical scenarios with more sensors, a divide-and-conquer (DAC) approach may be applied, but the positioning solution is suboptimal due to ignoring the correlation between FDOA measurements. To address these challenges, in this work, we propose a Bayesian approach for FDOA-only source positioning. The developed method, referred to as the Gaussian division method (GDM), first converts one FDOA measurement into a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) that specifies the prior distribution of the source position. Next, the GDM assumes uncorrelated FDOA measurements and fuses the remaining FDOAs sequentially by invoking nonlinear filtering techniques to obtain an initial positioning result. The GDM refines the solution by taking into account and compensating for the information loss caused by ignoring that the FDOAs are in fact correlated. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm provides improved performance over existing methods and that it can attain the Cramér–Rao lower bound (CRLB) accuracy under moderate noise levels. Full article

Accurate and timely prediction of oilseed rape yield is crucial in precision agriculture and field remote sensing. We explored the feasibility and potential for predicting oilseed rape yield through the utilization of a UAV-based platform equipped with RGB and multispectral cameras. Genetic algorithm–partial least square was employed and evaluated for effective wavelength (EW) or vegetation index (VI) selection. Additionally, different machine learning algorithms, i.e., multiple linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM), back propagation neural network (BPNN), extreme learning machine (ELM), and radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), were developed and compared. With multi-source data fusion by combining vegetation indices (color and narrow-band VIs), robust prediction models of yield in oilseed rape were built. The performance of prediction models using the combination of VIs (RBFNN: R_pre = 0.8143, RMSEP = 171.9 kg/hm²) from multiple sensors manifested better results than those using only narrow-band VIs (BPNN: R_pre = 0.7655, RMSEP = 188.3 kg/hm²) from a multispectral camera. The best models for yield prediction were found by applying BPNN (R_pre = 0.8114, RMSEP = 172.6 kg/hm²) built from optimal EWs and ELM (R_pre = 0.8118, RMSEP = 170.9 kg/hm²) using optimal VIs. Taken together, the findings conclusively illustrate the potential of UAV-based RGB and multispectral images for the timely and non-invasive prediction of oilseed rape yield. This study also highlights that a lightweight UAV equipped with dual-image-frame snapshot cameras holds promise as a valuable tool for high-throughput plant phenotyping and advanced breeding programs within the realm of precision agriculture. Full article

In super-low-frequency (SLF) submarine communication, the motion-induced noise of the towed antenna is the primary noise source, and below 500 Hz, it increases with increasing speed. We propose an improved quadratic Approximate Forward–Backward Split Gaussian Kernel Least Mean Square Algorithm (ASRSG–KLMS) based on the forward–backward split criterion using noise approximation of the nonlinear kernel least mean square, which introduces an L2-paradigm regularization term and has good sparsity while maintaining optimization stability. The ASRSG–KLMS algorithm could improve the narrowband signal-to-noise ratio by approximately 6.93 dB in the frequency range of 45–55 Hz, making it suitable for motion-induced noise cancellation in the SLF band. Full article

Low-level radio frequency (LLRF) systems have been designed to regulate the accelerator field in the cavity; these systems have been used in the free electron laser (FLASH) and European X-ray free-electron laser (E-XFEL). However, the reliable operation of these cavities is often hindered by two primary sources of noise and disturbances: Lorentz force detuning (LFD) and mechanical vibrations, commonly known as microphonics. This article presents an innovative solution in the form of a narrowband active noise controller (NANC) designed to compensate for the narrowband mechanical noise generated by certain supporting machines, such as vacuum pumps and helium pressure vibrations. To identify the adaptive filter coefficients in the NANC method, a least mean squares (LMS) algorithm is put forward. Furthermore, a variable step size (VSS) method is proposed to estimate the adaptive filter coefficients based on changes in microphonics, ultimately compensating for their effects on the cryomodule. An accelerometer with an SPI interface and some transmission boards are manufactured and mounted at the cryomodule test bench (CMTB) to measure the microphonics and transfer them via Ethernet cable from the cryomodule side to the LLRF crate side. Several locations had been selected to find the optimal location for installing the accelerometer. The proposed NANC method is characterized by low computational complexity, stability, and high tracking ability. By addressing the challenges associated with noise and disturbances in cavity operation, this research contributes to the enhanced performance and reliability of LLRF systems in particle accelerators. Full article

Active noise control (ANC) is a technique applied to eliminate an unwanted sound by superposing a signal of equal amplitude and opposite phase, sometimes defined as an anti-noise signal, computed through an adaptive algorithm. The study described herein aims to evaluate and compare the performance of some of the most popular algorithms based on the least mean squares (LMS) approach applied to a multichannel active noise control system in a small, enclosed space. The comparison is conducted through an experimental evaluation of the ANC algorithms’ performance, carried out on a tractor cabin in a hemi-anechoic chamber, generating the unwanted sound field using a dodecahedron sound source placed outside the enclosure, emitting narrowband and broadband signals. The experimental analysis and the comparison with the results obtained in a free field condition have made it possible to show certain practical limitations when implementing the algorithms. The results show that the feed-forward systems allow for greater stability, avoiding the acoustic feedback from the control loudspeakers to the reference microphone when this is outside the cabin, while the feedback system is the slowest configuration to converge, requiring an internal modeling of the reference signal. With random signals, the feed-forward systems concentrate their performance in the range above 500 Hz, while the feedback system becomes ineffective. Full article

The low-frequency narrowband components (known as lines) in the radiated noise of underwater acoustic targets are an important feature of passive sonar detection. Conventional adaptive line enhancer (ALE) based on the least mean square algorithm has limited performance under colored background noise and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, by combining the frequency domain sparse model of lines and maximum correntropy criterion (MCC), a β-adaptive l₀-MCC-ALE is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. The proposed ALE uses a sparse-driven MCC algorithm to update the weight vector in the frequency domain to further suppress the colored background noise. For the problem that the value of parameter β is sensitive to the performance, β is updated adaptively according to the frequency response of ALE in each iteration. Simulation and real data processing results show that the proposed ALE is insensitive to the given parameter β and has excellent performance for line enhancement. Compared with conventional ALE, the SNR of lines can be improved by 7~8 dB. Full article

Canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) is closely related to crop nitrogen status, crop growth and productivity, detection of diseases and pests, and final yield. Thus, accurate monitoring of chlorophyll content in crops is of great significance for decision support in precision agriculture. In this study, winter wheat in the Guanzhong Plain area of the Shaanxi Province, China, was selected as the research subject to explore the feasibility of canopy spectral transformation (CST) combined with a machine learning method to estimate CCC. A hyperspectral canopy ground dataset in situ was measured to construct CCC prediction models for winter wheat over three growth seasons from 2014 to 2017. Sensitive-band reflectance (SR) and narrow-band spectral index (NSI) were established based on the original spectrum (OS) and CSTs, including the first derivative spectrum (FDS) and continuum removal spectrum (CRS). Winter wheat CCC estimation models were constructed using univariate regression, partial least squares (PLS) regression, and random forest (RF) regression based on SR and NSI. The results demonstrated the reliability of CST combined with the machine learning method to estimate winter wheat CCC. First, compared with OS-SR (683 nm), FDS-SR (630 nm) and CRS-SR (699 nm) had a larger correlation coefficient between canopy reflectance and CCC; secondly, among the parametric regression methods, the univariate regression method with CRS-NDSI as the independent variable achieved satisfactory results in estimating the CCC of winter wheat; thirdly, as a machine learning regression method, RF regression combined with multiple independent variables had the best winter wheat CCC estimation accuracy (the determination coefficient of the validation set (R_v²) was 0.88, the RMSE of the validation set (RMSE_v) was 3.35 and relative prediction deviation (RPD) was 2.88). Thus, this modeling method could be used as a basic method to predict the CCC of winter wheat in the Guanzhong Plain area. Full article

Potato growth depends largely on nitrogen (N) availability in the soil. However, the shallow-root crop coupled with its common cultivation in coarse-textured soils leads to its poor N use efficiency. Fast and accurate estimations of potato tissue N concentrations are urgently needed to assist the decision making in precision fertilization management. Remote sensing has been utilized to evaluate the potato N status by correlating spectral information with lab tests on leaf N concentrations. In this study, a systematic comparison was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the performance of hyperspectral and multispectral images in estimating the potato N status, providing a reference for the trade-off between sensor costs and performance. In the experiment, two potato varieties were planted under four fertilization rates with replicates. UAV images were acquired multiple times during the season with a narrow-band hyperspectral imager. Multispectral reflectance was simulated by merging the relevant narrow bands into broad bands to mimic commonly used multispectral cameras. The whole leaf total N concentration and petiole nitrate-N concentration were obtained from 160 potato leaf samples. A partial least square regression model was developed to estimate the two N status indicators using different groups of image features. The best estimation accuracies were given by reflectance of the full spectra with 2.2 nm narrow, with the coefficient of determination (R²) being 0.78 and root mean square error (RMSE) being 0.41 for the whole leaf total N concentration; while, for the petiole nitrate-N concentration, the 10 nm bands had the best performance (R² = 0.87 and RMSE = 0.13). Generally, the model performance decreased with an increase of the spectral bandwidth. The hyperspectral full spectra largely outperformed all three multispectral cameras, but there was no significant difference among the three brands of multispectral cameras. The results also showed that spectral bands in the visible regions (400–700 nm) were the most highly correlated with potato N concentrations. Full article

This study presents an active noise control (ANC) algorithm using long short-term memory (LSTM) layers as a type of recurrent neural network. The filtered least-mean-square (FxLMS) algorithm is a widely used ANC algorithm, where the noise in a target area is reduced through a control signal generated from an adaptive filter. Artificial intelligence can enhance the reduction performance of ANC for specific applications. An LSTM is an artificial neural network for recognizing patterns in arbitrarily long sequence data. In this study, an ANC controller consisting of LSTM layers based on deep neural networks was designed for predicting a reference noise signal, which was used to generate the control signal to minimize the noise residue. The structure of the LSTM neural networks and procedure for training the LSTM controller for the ANC were determined. Simulations were conducted to compare the convergence time and performances of the ANC with the LSTM controller and those with a conventional FxLMS algorithm. The noise source adopted sounds from a single-cylinder diesel engine, while reference noises selected were single harmonics, superposed harmonics, and impulsive signals generated from the diesel engine. The characteristics of each algorithm were examined through a Fourier transform analysis of the ANC results. The simulation results demonstrated that the proposed ANC method with LSTM layers showed outstanding noise reduction capabilities in narrowband, broadband, and impulsive noise environments, without high computational cost and complexity relative to the conventional FxLMS algorithm. Full article

Beijing’s One Million Mu Plain Afforestation Project involves planting large areas with the exotic North American tree species Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh (ash). As an exotic tree species, ash is very vulnerable to infestations by the emerald ash borer (EAB), a native Chinese wood borer pest. In the early stage of an EAB infestation, attacked trees show no obvious sign. Once the stand has reached the late damage stage, death occurs rapidly. Therefore, there is a need for efficient early detection methods of EAB stress over large areas. The combination of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based hyperspectral imaging (HI) with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a promising practical approach for monitoring insect disturbance. In this study, we identified the most useful narrow-band spectral HI data and 3D LiDAR data for the early detection of EAB stress in ash. UAV-HI data of different infested stages (healthy, light, moderate and severe) of EAB in the 400–1000 nm range were collected from ash canopies and were processed by Partial Least Squares–Variable Importance in Projection (PLS-VIP) to identify the maximally sensitive bands. Band R678 nm had the highest PLS-VIP scores and the most robust classification ability. We combined this band with band R776 nm to develop an innovative normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI_(776,678)) to estimate EAB stress. LiDAR data were used to segment individual trees and supplement the HI data. The new NDVI_(776,678) identified different stages of EAB stress, with a producer’s accuracy of 90% for healthy trees, 76.25% for light infestation, 58.33% for moderate infestation, and 100% for severe infestation, with an overall accuracy of 82.90% when combined with UAV-HI and LiDAR. Full article

In this paper, multi-channel active noise control systems subjected to narrowband disturbances with close frequencies are investigated. Instead of controlling each frequency separately, a mixed-reference signal is assumed and thus a transversal controller is utilized. First, the convergent behaviors of a generalized FxLMS-based algorithm are theoretically analyzed in the mean sense, from which the influence of the controller structure on the convergence rate is revealed. A novel narrowband algorithm is then proposed, in which a decimated transversal controller is used to alleviate the computational burden. Simulations based on a 4 × 8 active-noise-control system are carried out to verify the proposed method. The results show that a good convergence rate can be obtained, and the computational complexity can also be greatly reduced. Full article

Wideband multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) imaging radar can achieve high-resolution imaging with a specific multi-antenna structure. However, its imaging performance is severely affected by the array errors, including the inter-channel errors and the position errors of all the transmitting and receiving elements (TEs/REs). Conventional calibration methods are suitable for the narrow-band signal model, and cannot separate the element position errors from the array errors. This paper proposes a method for estimating and compensating the array errors of wideband MIMO imaging radar based on multiple prominent targets. Firstly, a high-precision target position estimation method is proposed to acquire the prominent targets’ positions without other equipment. Secondly, the inter-channel amplitude and delay errors are estimated by solving an equation-constrained least square problem. After this, the element position errors are estimated with the genetic algorithm to eliminate the spatial-variant error phase. Finally, the feasibility and correctness of this method are validated with both simulated and experimental datasets. Full article