Improved discrete swarm intelligence algorithms for endmember extraction in hyperspectral remote sensing image

Endmember extraction is a key step in hyperspectral unmixing. This paper proposes a new endmember extraction framework based on the swarm intelligence algorithm. We adopt a discrete structure because pixels exist within a discrete frame. Traditional swarm intelligence algorithms produce stacked solutions based on similar endmembers in the same class. We introduce a “distance” factor into the objective function to limit the number of endmembers per class. We then propose three endmember extraction methods based on the artificial bee colony (ABC), ant colony optimization (ACO) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms. Experiments with both simulated and actual hyperspectral image data indicate that the proposed framework can significantly improve the accuracy of endmember extraction.