X-SAR SpotLigh images feature selection and water segmentation

In this paper we address the feature selection problem for X-SAR images and further the segmentation of specific chosen classes. After defining a suitable feature space for X-SAR images we select the most significant ones via a supervised machine learning approach: the 1-norm SVM. The selected features will be used for segmentation purposes, in order to segment water areas from the background. We shall see that the most relevant features are based on texture elements. So the segmentation is texture based and achieved with variational calculus and level set methods. The work is mainly focused on urban park X-SAR SpotLight images, where lakes and rivers are often present. The images are collected with the COSMO-SkyMed satellites constellation, equipped with a SAR sensor.