Fusion of Two Images Based on Wavelet Transform

In this paper we have presented a method for fusing two dimensional multi-resolution 2-D images using wavelet transform under the combine gradient and smoothness criterion. The usefulness of the method has been illustrated using various experimental image pairs such as the multifocus images, multi-sensor satellite image and CT and MR images of cross-section of human brain. The results of the proposed method have been compared with that of some widely used wavelet transform based image fusion methods both qualitatively and quantitatively. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method produces better fused image than that by the latter. The use of both gradient and relative smoothness criterion ensures two fold effects. While the gradient criterion ensure that edges in the images are included in the fused algorithm, the relative smoothness criterion ensures that the areas of uniform intensity are also incorporated in the fused image thus the effect of noise is minimized. It should be noted that the proposed algorithm is domain-independent