An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning

Shadows inevitably exist in remote sensing images (RSIs) and are characterized by lower resolution, mixed-pixel, and diverse background information. These characteristics pose a great challenge to the automatic compensation of shadows in RSIs. To address these issues, this paper proposes a training...

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Main Authors: Xingyu Shen, Yungang Cao, Baikai Sui, Shuang Zhang, Dejun Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:GIScience & Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15481603.2025.2487334
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author Xingyu Shen
Yungang Cao
Baikai Sui
Shuang Zhang
Dejun Feng
author_facet Xingyu Shen
Yungang Cao
Baikai Sui
Shuang Zhang
Dejun Feng
author_sort Xingyu Shen
collection DOAJ
description Shadows inevitably exist in remote sensing images (RSIs) and are characterized by lower resolution, mixed-pixel, and diverse background information. These characteristics pose a great challenge to the automatic compensation of shadows in RSIs. To address these issues, this paper proposes a training method using automatically simulated data to achieve real shadow compensation. In the process of data simulation, we take into comprehensive account the distribution, spatial extent, morphology, and other properties of shadows in RSIs, along with the reflectivity differences of ground features. And a lightweight shadow compensation framework is proposed to compensate shadows. Specifically, a Stair-step Hierarchical Context Aggregation Module is employed in the primary stage to integrate global and local texture information that is more important for shadow compensation. After that, a U-shaped end-to-end structure is used to perceive shadows and image features. Then, a Buffer-based mask attention Module is proposed to enhance the network’s attentiveness to both shadows and shadow boundaries. Finally, an additional high-resolution residual connection is utilized to get the final output. This connection effectively maintains the continuity of the image. This method was validated by two remote sensing image datasets with different resolutions and achieved favorable results.
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spelling doaj-art-8ca12e346a8b484da8910fe05a2f75a42025-08-20T02:09:10ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGIScience & Remote Sensing1548-16031943-72262025-12-0162110.1080/15481603.2025.2487334An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learningXingyu Shen0Yungang Cao1Baikai Sui2Shuang Zhang3Dejun Feng4Faculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, ChinaShadows inevitably exist in remote sensing images (RSIs) and are characterized by lower resolution, mixed-pixel, and diverse background information. These characteristics pose a great challenge to the automatic compensation of shadows in RSIs. To address these issues, this paper proposes a training method using automatically simulated data to achieve real shadow compensation. In the process of data simulation, we take into comprehensive account the distribution, spatial extent, morphology, and other properties of shadows in RSIs, along with the reflectivity differences of ground features. And a lightweight shadow compensation framework is proposed to compensate shadows. Specifically, a Stair-step Hierarchical Context Aggregation Module is employed in the primary stage to integrate global and local texture information that is more important for shadow compensation. After that, a U-shaped end-to-end structure is used to perceive shadows and image features. Then, a Buffer-based mask attention Module is proposed to enhance the network’s attentiveness to both shadows and shadow boundaries. Finally, an additional high-resolution residual connection is utilized to get the final output. This connection effectively maintains the continuity of the image. This method was validated by two remote sensing image datasets with different resolutions and achieved favorable results.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15481603.2025.2487334Remote sensing imageShadow compensationdeep learninghierarchical context aggregationmask attention
spellingShingle Xingyu Shen
Yungang Cao
Baikai Sui
Shuang Zhang
Dejun Feng
An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
GIScience & Remote Sensing
Remote sensing image
Shadow compensation
deep learning
hierarchical context aggregation
mask attention
title An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
title_full An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
title_fullStr An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
title_full_unstemmed An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
title_short An automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
title_sort automatic remote sensing image shadow compensation method utilizing reflectance differences and transfer learning
topic Remote sensing image
Shadow compensation
deep learning
hierarchical context aggregation
mask attention
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15481603.2025.2487334
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