c) choosing, on the basis of the hystograms, the minimum interv 
from 
digi als -for each spectral band- able to describe the objects of 
e interest 
ndivi d) defining and giving the optimum existence volume dimension to 
nn cha the objects within the space of the three spectral bands. 
ut ca e) spectral exclusion from the image of all the points outside 
etric the existence volume 
ch it Since the procedure is not sufficient for isolating all and 
only all the objects of interest (in our case crowns of olive 
trees) an analysis of the form is undertaken, as described below. 
y ana (0); (1). 9ee Fig. 2. 
mo 1.2 Morphological analysis of remote sensing images. 
- The objective is to identify characteristics relative to theform 
nd in the objects present in the digitized image, and, in the scene, 
zatio some structures (rows, homogeneous zones, etc.). 
= These characteristics are identified according to the follow 
ing algorithm: 
a) with a binary-coded image (one, that is, in which zl is attri 
andli buted to the points which come within the significative strip, 
Sous and =O to the others) the images are coded according to the 
F.M. coding system (2). This system associates every point wi 
a r8 th a number, which characterizes the point univocally on the 
m basis of its relationships with its visible neighbours. In pa 
with rticular the points inside the image are characterized by the 
er higest number, and the points defined as 'background' by the 
mal zero. In this way the list of the co-ordinates and the F.M. 
codes of contour points of the figures present in the images 
harac is sufficient for the reconstruction of the whole image. 
ral b) a systematic examination of the list of the co-ordinates and 
idual of the F.M. codes of the contour points which are gathered 
together in significative sets. Each one of these sets may be 
characterized by means of an algebric instrument, such as, for 
A. example, a grammar and a n L-system. (3);(4). 
wai A typical significative set is "CONTORNO", the outline of a 
| ang figure, be it full or empty, open Or closed: the outline is 
conve the set of visible points of the scene which separates the po 
ints of the figure from the other points of the scene which 
ysis do not belong to the figure itself. This set is characterized 
erge by the property of continuity and congruence. Fig. 3 
ey, ve Two meaningful obvious parameters are "AREA" (whole number of 
trans pixels of the figure) and "PERIMETRO" (number of pixels of the 
ystem. CONTORNO. 
olved c) Each of these sets is further divided in subsets of adjacent 
points called "syllable"(Fig. 4) the meaning of which is as 
grou follows: each syllable is a sequence of vertices belonging to 
the same elementary figure (token), belonging to a set which 
o the is defined as basic. 
A syntetic description of a figure can be obtained from a rec