Model Free Earth Observation Image Artifact Detection

Remote sensing Earth Observation images may contain blemishes or artificial structures generated by the processing or directly by the sensors. These artifacts decrease the quality of the images and may lead to analysis and interpretation problems. We are interested in detecting these defects automatically. A visual analysis of such artifacts brings us to the conclusion that they constitute a local modification of the complexity of the image. Therefore, this paper will give a complexity-based approach for the detection of these defects. Our approach will comprise two different methods: in a first approach, the artifacts will be compared with given examples based on a complexity comparison. Due to some weaknesses of this method a second approach will be defined which will not depend on given examples but will take into consideration the local complexity context of the images.