Fusion of Color Images Based on Fuzzy Transform and Spatial Frequency

Abstract

Multiple images of a scene, captured using different imaging devices and containing complementary information, are required to be combined into a single fused image. The fused image, so obtained, should ideally contain all important features of individual input images. Further, color image processing is also gaining importance in most of the real-life applications. Color images provide better visual information and are highly suitable for human visual perception. Motivated by the gaining importance of color image processing, fusion of color images is proposed. The fusion algorithm is proposed in HSV color space where the luminance components of multiple input images, based on fuzzy transform and spatial frequency, are fused. The chrominance information of input images provides color to the fused image. The fused image contains all important information and possesses natural color appearance. Experiments performed on various pairs of visible–infrared and multifocus images demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over recent state-of-the-art image fusion algorithms.