UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework

Cross-view image matching between UAV and satellite platforms is critical for geographic localization but remains challenging due to domain gaps caused by disparities in imaging sensors, viewpoints, and illumination conditions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an Adaptive Threshold-g...

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Main Authors: Yushi Liao, Juan Su, Decao Ma, Chao Niu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2448
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author Yushi Liao
Juan Su
Decao Ma
Chao Niu
author_facet Yushi Liao
Juan Su
Decao Ma
Chao Niu
author_sort Yushi Liao
collection DOAJ
description Cross-view image matching between UAV and satellite platforms is critical for geographic localization but remains challenging due to domain gaps caused by disparities in imaging sensors, viewpoints, and illumination conditions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an Adaptive Threshold-guided Ring Partitioning Framework (ATRPF) for UAV–satellite cross-view image matching. Unlike conventional ring-based methods with fixed partitioning rules, ATRPF innovatively incorporates heatmap-guided adaptive thresholds and learnable hyperparameters to dynamically adjust ring-wise feature extraction regions, significantly enhancing cross-domain representation learning through context-aware adaptability. The framework synergizes three core components: brightness-aligned preprocessing to reduce illumination-induced domain shifts, hybrid loss functions to improve feature discriminability across domains, and keypoint-aware re-ranking to refine retrieval results by compensating for neural networks’ localization uncertainty. Comprehensive evaluations on the University-1652 benchmark demonstrate the framework’s superiority; it achieves 82.50% Recall@1 and 84.28% AP for UAV→Satellite geo-localization, along with 90.87% Recall@1 and 80.25% AP for Satellite→UAV navigation. These results validate the framework’s capability to bridge UAV–satellite domain gaps while maintaining robust matching precision under heterogeneous imaging conditions, providing a viable solution for practical applications such as UAV navigation in GNSS-denied environments.
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spelling doaj-art-d2eba5fd0013438299e5bcf9d1b2e5802025-08-20T03:32:18ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-07-011714244810.3390/rs17142448UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning FrameworkYushi Liao0Juan Su1Decao Ma2Chao Niu3Rocket Force University of Engineering, Xi’an 710025, ChinaRocket Force University of Engineering, Xi’an 710025, ChinaRocket Force University of Engineering, Xi’an 710025, ChinaRocket Force University of Engineering, Xi’an 710025, ChinaCross-view image matching between UAV and satellite platforms is critical for geographic localization but remains challenging due to domain gaps caused by disparities in imaging sensors, viewpoints, and illumination conditions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an Adaptive Threshold-guided Ring Partitioning Framework (ATRPF) for UAV–satellite cross-view image matching. Unlike conventional ring-based methods with fixed partitioning rules, ATRPF innovatively incorporates heatmap-guided adaptive thresholds and learnable hyperparameters to dynamically adjust ring-wise feature extraction regions, significantly enhancing cross-domain representation learning through context-aware adaptability. The framework synergizes three core components: brightness-aligned preprocessing to reduce illumination-induced domain shifts, hybrid loss functions to improve feature discriminability across domains, and keypoint-aware re-ranking to refine retrieval results by compensating for neural networks’ localization uncertainty. Comprehensive evaluations on the University-1652 benchmark demonstrate the framework’s superiority; it achieves 82.50% Recall@1 and 84.28% AP for UAV→Satellite geo-localization, along with 90.87% Recall@1 and 80.25% AP for Satellite→UAV navigation. These results validate the framework’s capability to bridge UAV–satellite domain gaps while maintaining robust matching precision under heterogeneous imaging conditions, providing a viable solution for practical applications such as UAV navigation in GNSS-denied environments.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2448cross-view geo-localizationdomain gap adaptationUAV–satellite image matchingadaptive ring partitioningkeypoint re-ranking
spellingShingle Yushi Liao
Juan Su
Decao Ma
Chao Niu
UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
Remote Sensing
cross-view geo-localization
domain gap adaptation
UAV–satellite image matching
adaptive ring partitioning
keypoint re-ranking
title UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
title_full UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
title_fullStr UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
title_full_unstemmed UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
title_short UAV-Satellite Cross-View Image Matching Based on Adaptive Threshold-Guided Ring Partitioning Framework
title_sort uav satellite cross view image matching based on adaptive threshold guided ring partitioning framework
topic cross-view geo-localization
domain gap adaptation
UAV–satellite image matching
adaptive ring partitioning
keypoint re-ranking
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2448
work_keys_str_mv AT yushiliao uavsatellitecrossviewimagematchingbasedonadaptivethresholdguidedringpartitioningframework
AT juansu uavsatellitecrossviewimagematchingbasedonadaptivethresholdguidedringpartitioningframework
AT decaoma uavsatellitecrossviewimagematchingbasedonadaptivethresholdguidedringpartitioningframework
AT chaoniu uavsatellitecrossviewimagematchingbasedonadaptivethresholdguidedringpartitioningframework