Three New Implementations of the Triangular Prism Method for Computing the Fractal Dimension of Remote Sensing Images

Based on Clarke’s (1986) triangular prism concept, this paper proposes three new methods to compute the fractal dimension (D) of remote sensing images. Our first method involves searching a pixel on each edge of a square whose digital numbers (DN) value has the largest deviation from the central pixel. Our second method uses a pixel on each edge of a square whose DN deviation from the central pixel is closest to the mean DN deviation from the central pixel to all pixels on the same edge. In our third method, eight pixels on the four edges of a square are used. Furthermore, common to the three proposed methods is the use of actual DN of the central pixel. The proposed computation methods have been tested using both simulated fractal surfaces and real images. Results show that the proposed methods appear to generally perform better than Clarke’s 1986 method for synthetic images with complex textures.