A fast two-stage classification method for high-dimensional remote sensing data

Classification for high-dimensional remotely sensed data generally requires a large set of data samples and enormous processing time, particularly for hyperspectral image data. In this paper, the authors present a fast two-stage classification method composed of a band selection (BS) algorithm with feature extraction/selection (FSE) followed by a recursive maximum likelihood classifier (MLC). The first stage is to develop a BS algorithm coupled with FSE for data dimensionality reduction. The second stage is to design a fast recursive MLC (RMLC) so as to achieve computational efficiency. The experimental results show that the proposed recursive MLC, in conjunction with BS and FSE, reduces computing time significantly by a factor ranging from 30 to 145, as compared to the conventional MLC.