A Novel Cluster Matching-Based Improved Kernel Fisher Criterion for Image Classification in Unsupervised Domain Adaptation

Unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) is a popular approach to reducing distributional discrepancies between labeled source and the unlabeled target domain (TD) in machine learning. However, current UDA approaches often align feature distributions between two domains explicitly without considering the target distribution and intra-domain category information, potentially leading to reduced classifier efficiency when the distribution between training and test sets differs. To address this limitation, we propose a novel approach called Cluster Matching-based Improved Kernel Fisher criterion (CM-IKFC) for object classification in image analysis using machine learning techniques. CM-IKFC generates accurate pseudo-labels for each target sample by considering both domain distributions. Our approach employs K-means clustering to cluster samples in the latent subspace in both domains and then conducts cluster matching in the TD. During the model component training stage, the Improved Kernel Fisher Criterion (IKFC) is presented to extend cluster matching and preserve the semantic structure and class transitions. To further enhance the performance of the Kernel Fisher criterion, we use a normalized parameter, due to the difficulty in solving the characteristic equation that draws inspiration from symmetry theory. The proposed CM-IKFC method minimizes intra-class variability while boosting inter-class variants in all domains. We evaluated our approach on benchmark datasets for UDA tasks and our experimental findings show that CM-IKFC is superior to current state-of-the-art methods.