PRO-SSRGAN: stable super-resolution generative adversarial network based on parameter reconstructive optimization on Gaofen-5 remote-sensing images

Advances in hardware capabilities and big data technologies over the past decade have enabled the application of deep learning techniques to address the challenge of super-resolution in remote-sensing images. Recently, while deep-learning-based methods have outperformed traditional methods, the abundance of information in remote-sensing images creates an imbalance between performance and computational resource consumption in current deep-learning-based methods. This paper introduces a stable super-resolution algorithm based on parameter reconstructive optimization to address these issues. First, based on the stable super-resolution generative adversarial network (SSRGAN), the algorithm employs a generator with networks using residual connections to reconstruct images with enhanced resolution. Next, it extracts content, adversarial, and regularization losses using the discriminator from a stable super-resolution generative adversarial network, which in turn guides the training of the network. Finally, upon completion of training, structural re-parameterization is conducted to optimize the multi-branch trained network into a plain inference network. This inference network can serve as an individual new generator. The results of qualitative and quantitative experimental comparisons with the models Bicubic, super-resolution convolutional neural network, very deep super-resolution convolutional network, deep recursive residual network, super-resolution generative adversarial network (SRGAN), enhanced SRGAN, and stable SRGAN on the Gaofen-5 AHSI satellite dataset suggest that this algorithm achieves improved evaluation indices with a 4× magnification ratio, reaching a peak signal-to-noise ratio of 30.7207 dB and structural similarity index measure of 0.8178. Compared with the trained but unconverted generator, which can also work independently, implementing re-parameterization results in approximately a 10% reduction in the number of parameters, indicating lower resource consumption, while the reconstruction effect is minimally influenced. Furthermore, the super-resolution results exhibit richer detail, increased contrast, and better scene adaptability.