Training Rare Object Detection in Satellite Imagery with Synthetic GAN Images

When creating a new labeled dataset, human analysts or data reductionists must review and annotate large numbers of images. This process is time consuming and a barrier to the deployment of new computer vision solutions, particularly for rarely occurring objects. To reduce the number of images requiring human attention, we evaluate the utility of images created from 3D models refined with a generative adversarial network to select confidence thresholds that significantly reduce false alarms rates. The resulting approach has been demonstrated to cut the number of images needing to be reviewed by 50% while preserving a 95% recall rate, with only 6 labeled examples of the target.