The evaluation methodology of THz-VIS fused images

Abstract

A growing interest in terahertz technology finds support in a large number of applications. One of the most interesting applications of terahertz waves is imaging. The terahertz range of electromagnetic radiation has large potential in the field of hidden objects detection because it is not harmful to humans. However, the main difficulty in the THz imaging systems is low image quality due to low sensitivity and a small number of pixels in detecting modules of cameras Considering the fact that even THz images with low pixel resolution still provide valuable information, it is justified to combine them with the high-resolution images from a visible camera. Image fusion can be used in a wide range of security applications for example detection and identification of hidden objects. Our goal is to build a system harmless to humans for screening and detection of hidden objects using a THz camera. A very important aspect of applying various processing techniques to images is proper assessment of image quality. We propose a combination of two image quality assessment methods (IQA) as a methodology of assessing quality of the fused images and a method to compare image fusion algorithms.