Fusing electro-optic and infrared signals for high resolution night images

Abstract

Electro-optic (EO) images exhibit the properties of high resolution and low noise level, while it is a challenge to distinguish objects at night through infrared (IR) images, especially for objects with a similar temperature. Therefore, we will propose a novel framework of IR image enhancement based on the information (e.g., edge) from EO images, which will result in high resolution IR images and help us distinguish objects at night. Superimposing the detected edge of the EO image onto the corresponding transformed IR image is our principal idea for the proposed framework. In this framework, we will adopt the theoretical point spread function (PSF) proposed by Russell C. Hardie et al . for our IR image system, which is contributed by the modulation transfer function (MTF) of a uniform detector array and the incoherent optical transfer function (OTF) of diffraction-limited optics. In addition, we will design an inverse filter in terms of the proposed PSF to conduct the IR image transformation. The framework requires four main steps, which are inverse filter-based IR image transformation, EO image edge detection, registration and superimposing of the obtained image pair. Simulation results will show the superimposed IR images.