Hyperspectral imaging and artificial neural networks for oil spills automatic detection

Abstract The detection of hydrocarbon spills in marine environments is a critical challenge due to their severe impact on aquatic ecosystems. Hyperspectral imaging technology has emerged as a promising tool for detecting such spills, offering high-resolution spectral data for accurate identification. This work aims to develop an automated procedure for detecting hydrocarbon spills in local marine areas using a compact hyperspectral camera installed on a drone. The methodology integrates machine learning with hyperspectral technology, employing hyperspectral signatures of various hydrocarbons and water to create a spectral knowledge base for classification. A novel approach is used in the classifier training, where hyperspectral signatures are directly utilized as input to an artificial neural network, bypassing the need for extensive image labelling, eliminating the requirement for a large image dataset, and significantly reducing the computational costs associated with deep learning models. The trained classifiers, using autoencoders for encoding hyperspectral signatures, were applied to classify hyperspectral profiles (hyperpixels) in hyperspectral images. The results were highly promising, with the classifiers achieving near-perfect accuracy in detecting contaminated water and distinguishing between different hydrocarbons. Recall and F-score values above 0.90 demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, offering an efficient, scalable solution for real-time monitoring of marine spills.