Improvements of image fusion methods

Fusion of images from different imaging modalities, obtained by conventional fusion methods, may cause artifacts, including destructive superposition and brightness irregularities, in certain cases. This paper proposes two methods for improving image multimodal fusion quality. Based on the finding that a better fusion can be achieved when the images have a more positive correlation, the first method is a decision algorithm that runs at the preprocessing fusion stage and determines whether a complementary gray level of one of the input images should be used instead of the original one. The second method is suitable for multiresolution fusion, and it suggests choosing only one image from the lowest-frequency sub-bands in the pyramids, instead of combining values from both sub-bands. Experimental results indicate that the proposed fusion enhancement can reduce fusion artifacts. Quantitative fusion quality measures that support this conclusion are shown.