A Coarse-to-Fine Registration Method for Satellite Infrared Image and Visual Image

In the present paper, in order to resolve the registration of the multi-mode satellite images with different signal properties and features, a two-phase coarse-to-fine registration method is presented and is applied to the registration of satellite infrared images and visual images. In the coarse registration phase of this method, the edge of infrared and visual images is firstly detected. Then the Fourier-Mellin transform is adopted to process the edge images. Finally, the affine transformation parameters of the registration are computed rapidly by the transformation relation between the registering images in frequency domain. In the fine registration phase of the proposed method, the feature points of infrared and visual images are firstly detected by Harris operator. Then the matched feature points of infrared and visual images are determined by the cross-correlation similarity of their local neighborhoods. The fine registration is finally realized according to the spatial correspondent relation of the matched feature points in infrared and visual images. The proposed coarse-to-fine registration method derives both the advantages of two methods, the high efficiency of Fourier-Mellin transform based registration method and the accuracy of Harris operator based registration method, which is considered the novelty and merit of the proposed method. To evaluate the performance of the proposed registration method, the coarse-to-fine registration method is implemented on the infrared and visual images captured by the FY-2D meteorological satellite. The experimental results show that the presented registration method is robust and has acceptable registration accuracy.