The input images applied to the algorithm may take a number of forms. In the first instance, these may be observational data provided as a counts map and, indeed, the application of the process to true data is the ultimate aim of this work, so as to provide a true measure of background Milky Way emission above 10 GeV. This is however an endpoint. To evaluate and study the method itself, an input must be chosen for which a known source population and flux contribution is used in combination with a known background flux contribution. This may be done in either taking an observationally-derived high-energy catalog (for instance the fermi 1FHL catalog of point sources) and adding these point sources to a background model, or simulating realistic galactic source population catalogs to overlay onto such a background emission model. In both cases, realistic simulated images must be developed in order to reflect the nature of the datasets to which the algorithm itself will ultimately be applied. This means physically-motivated background maps (derived from gas column density measurements) should be used in conjunction with either survey catalogs of observed sources or simulated galactic populations with a strong base in physical reasoning.
In this study, both simulation methods are considered. The nature of the simulated and data inputs are summarized in Table (TODO).