Quantum Annealing based SVM Outperforms Classical SVM in Cloud Feature Remote Sensing Image Classification

The increasing complexity and volume of remote sensing data necessitate advanced computational techniques for efficient and accurate image classification. This study explores the efficacy of Quantum Annealing based Support Vector Machines (QASVM) in comparison to classical Support Vector Machines (SVM) for classifying cloud features in remote sensing images. Quantum annealing, leveraging principles of quantum mechanics, promises to solve optimization problems more efficiently and accurately than classical methods, particularly in high-dimensional data spaces typical of remote sensing applications. Our experimental framework involved the classification of cloud features using a comprehensive dataset of Indian Nano Satellite (INS-2B) Nano-MX satellite imagery. The QA-SVM is implemented on a D-Wave quantum annealer based on the Adiabatic Quantum Computation (AQC) model, while the classical SVM utilizes a traditional computing setup. Performance metrics, including overall accuracy and F1 score, are evaluated. The results demonstrated that QA-SVM achieved higher overall accuracy and F1 score compared to its classical counterpart on the Nano-MX test image. It is found that the overall accuracy of QA-SVM is increased by 6.7% while the F1 score is increased by 4.5% with respect to classical SVM. This performance gain is attributed to the quantum annealer’s ability to explore a vast solution space more effectively, avoiding local minima that often hinder classical SVMs.