ImageMapper : Material Classification Software for Sensor Simulation

      New Version 2.0 Released February 1, 2005  

ImageMapper™ is a user-friendly software package for determining the material composition of image pixels based on their spectra. Knowing the material composition of a pixel and the related properties of those materials allows realistic sensor simulation in other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Potential Uses
ImageMapper's Material Composition Maps can be used for input to a variety of applications.

• Visible, Radar, UV and Infrared Sensor Simulation
  
• Target Signature Analysis
  
• Human Factors Design
  
• Operator Training
• Low observable design

Unique Features
The user does not have to be a material classification expert in order to set up and run ImageMapper. The software gives the user:

• Ease of Use
• Flexibility on input (SGI RGB, JPEG, GIF, TIF and GeoTIF or User defined)
• Flexibility on output (SGI RGB, TIF and native)
• Open file formats both on input and output
  
• An intuitive, easy to use interface for selecting mappings
  
• Choice of classification algorithms (SAM, MD, and SAM/MD)
  
• Runs on a broad range of computing platforms (Java based)
• Tools to perform simple image processing tasks
  
• Built-in infrared radiance and color simulation tools which can be used for:
  • for Quality Assurance or
  • as direct input into a sensor simulator
• The ability to run, use and evaluate the results of the Lowtran radiative transfer model
• Fast execution speeds (all under Windows 98 on an 700MHz AMD with 256Megs of memory):
  • 25 seconds for a 512 by 512 image with 8 reference mappings using SAM/MD classifier, 13 seconds using MD only
  • 7 seconds to generate a 512 by 512 color image
  • 7 seconds to generate a 512 by 512 radiance image from 0.4 to 0.5 microns
    

What's new in Version 2.0:

• Updated GUI w/Zoom Window
• Batch Processing
• ... and more.

See the new User's Guide or Contact SOC to try out Version 2.0 for yourself.

SOC's Library of Optical Properties Data Sheet

ImageMapper's Material Composition Map (MCM). MCMs describe the mixture and relative proportion of materials within a pixel. This makes them significantly better for sensor simulation than cartographic products such as VPF and Land-Use/Land Cover data, which assign a single composite material to every pixel.

ImageMapper is simple and easy to use. An analyst displays the image and provides ImageMapper with a set of reference or training pixels by pointing and clicking on base pixels within the image and assigning them to a material. Once the reference spectra are identified ImageMapper takes care of the rest. Based on the associations made by the analyst, the software determines the mixture and proportions of materials for each pixel in the image. This is sometimes referred to as sub-pixel classification.

ImageMapper also includes a rendering engine for producing color, reflectance and radiance images based on the derived MCMs. This provides immediate feedback to the analyst for refinement, correction and quality assurance purposes. The renderings can also be used directly in real-time rendering systems which don't require dynamic changes.

Also included are a set of region definition tools, a set of simple image processing utilities and a workbench for analyzing material properties data.

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