Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images

Ship detection under cloudy and foggy conditions is a significant challenge in remote sensing satellite applications, as cloud cover often reduces contrast between targets and backgrounds. Additionally, ships are small and affected by noise, making them difficult to detect. This paper proposes a Clo...

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Main Authors: Fangjian Liu, Fengyi Zhang, Mi Wang, Qizhi Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/24/11558
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author Fangjian Liu
Fengyi Zhang
Mi Wang
Qizhi Xu
author_facet Fangjian Liu
Fengyi Zhang
Mi Wang
Qizhi Xu
author_sort Fangjian Liu
collection DOAJ
description Ship detection under cloudy and foggy conditions is a significant challenge in remote sensing satellite applications, as cloud cover often reduces contrast between targets and backgrounds. Additionally, ships are small and affected by noise, making them difficult to detect. This paper proposes a Cloud Removal and Target Detection (CRTD) network to detect small ships in images with thin cloud cover. The process begins with a Thin Cloud Removal (TCR) module for image preprocessing. The preprocessed data are then fed into a Small Target Detection (STD) module. To improve target–background contrast, we introduce a Target Enhancement module. The TCR and STD modules are integrated through a dual-stage supervision network, which hierarchically processes the detection task to enhance data quality, minimizing the impact of thin clouds. Experiments on the GaoFen-4 satellite dataset show that the proposed method outperforms existing detectors, achieving an average precision (AP) of 88.9%.
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issn 2076-3417
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publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Applied Sciences
spelling doaj-art-53a8d4b50c81419282b05aeabef5f1d82025-08-20T02:00:59ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172024-12-0114241155810.3390/app142411558Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite ImagesFangjian Liu0Fengyi Zhang1Mi Wang2Qizhi Xu3State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing 100081, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing 100081, ChinaShip detection under cloudy and foggy conditions is a significant challenge in remote sensing satellite applications, as cloud cover often reduces contrast between targets and backgrounds. Additionally, ships are small and affected by noise, making them difficult to detect. This paper proposes a Cloud Removal and Target Detection (CRTD) network to detect small ships in images with thin cloud cover. The process begins with a Thin Cloud Removal (TCR) module for image preprocessing. The preprocessed data are then fed into a Small Target Detection (STD) module. To improve target–background contrast, we introduce a Target Enhancement module. The TCR and STD modules are integrated through a dual-stage supervision network, which hierarchically processes the detection task to enhance data quality, minimizing the impact of thin clouds. Experiments on the GaoFen-4 satellite dataset show that the proposed method outperforms existing detectors, achieving an average precision (AP) of 88.9%.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/24/11558ship detectioncloud removaldouble-layer supervised networkobject detectionoptical satellite images
spellingShingle Fangjian Liu
Fengyi Zhang
Mi Wang
Qizhi Xu
Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
Applied Sciences
ship detection
cloud removal
double-layer supervised network
object detection
optical satellite images
title Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
title_full Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
title_fullStr Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
title_full_unstemmed Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
title_short Two-Level Supervised Network for Small Ship Target Detection in Shallow Thin Cloud-Covered Optical Satellite Images
title_sort two level supervised network for small ship target detection in shallow thin cloud covered optical satellite images
topic ship detection
cloud removal
double-layer supervised network
object detection
optical satellite images
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/24/11558
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AT fengyizhang twolevelsupervisednetworkforsmallshiptargetdetectioninshallowthincloudcoveredopticalsatelliteimages
AT miwang twolevelsupervisednetworkforsmallshiptargetdetectioninshallowthincloudcoveredopticalsatelliteimages
AT qizhixu twolevelsupervisednetworkforsmallshiptargetdetectioninshallowthincloudcoveredopticalsatelliteimages