Deep Learning Driven Real-Time Airspace Monitoring Using Satellite Imagery

Detecting aircraft in remote sensing images poses a formidable challenge due to the diverse characteristics of aircraft, including type, size, pose, and intricate backgrounds. Traditional algorithms encounter difficulties in manually extracting features from numerous candidate regions. This paper introduces an innovative aircraft detection approach that combines corner clustering with a diverse set of Deep Learning (DL) models. The proposed method involves two main stages: region proposal and classification. In the region proposal stage, initial candidate regions are generated using a mean-shift clustering algorithm applied to corners detected on binary images. Subsequently, a comprehensive set of classifiers, encompassing CNN, DenseNet, MobileNetV2, Inception v3, Random Forest (R.F), ResNet50, ResNeXT, Support Vector Machine (SVM), VGG16, Xception, EfficientNet, and InceptionResNetv2, is employed for feature extraction and classification. The presented approach demonstrates superior accuracy and efficiency compared to conventional methods. By leveraging the autonomous learning capabilities of CNN and DL models on extensive datasets, the methodology generates a reduced yet high-quality set of candidate regions. Inspired by the detection methodology employed by image analysts, the approach adopts a coarse-to-fine strategy using CNN and DL models. The first CNN proposes coarse candidate regions, and the second identifies individual airplanes within these regions in finer detail. This framework results in a decreased number of candidate regions compared to existing literature while extracting distinctive deep features. Experimental evaluations on Google Earth images validate the efficiency of the proposed method, underscoring its potential for practical applications in both civilian and military contexts.