Title
A Novel Ground-Based Cloud Image Segmentation Method Based on a Multibranch Asymmetric Convolution Module and Attention Mechanism
Abstract
Cloud segmentation is a fundamental step in accurately acquiring cloud cover. However, due to the nonrigid structures of clouds, traditional cloud segmentation methods perform worse than expected. In this paper, a novel deep convolutional neural network (CNN) named MA-SegCloud is proposed for segmenting cloud images based on a multibranch asymmetric convolution module (MACM) and an attention mechanism. The MACM is composed of asymmetric convolution, depth-separable convolution, and a squeeze-and-excitation module (SEM). The MACM not only enables the network to capture more contextual information in a larger area but can also adaptively adjust the feature channel weights. The attention mechanisms SEM and convolutional block attention module (CBAM) in the network can strengthen useful features for cloud image segmentation. As a result, MA-SegCloud achieves a 96.9% accuracy, 97.0% precision, 97.0% recall, 97.0% F-score, 3.1% error rate, and 94.0% mean intersection-over-union (MIoU) on the Singapore Whole-sky Nychthemeron Image Segmentation (SWINySEG) dataset. Extensive evaluations demonstrate that MA-SegCloud performs favorably against state-of-the-art cloud image segmentation methods.
Year
DOI
Venue
2022
10.3390/rs14163970
REMOTE SENSING
Keywords
DocType
Volume
ground-based cloud image segmentation, convolutional block attention module (CBAM), squeeze-and-excitation module (SEM), multibranch asymmetric convolution module (MACM), whole sky imager (WSI)
Journal
14
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
16
2072-4292
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Liwen Zhang100.34
Wenhao Wei200.34
Bo Qiu300.34
Ali Luo454.76
Mingru Zhang500.34
Xiaotong Li600.34