Image Fusion Method Using Noise-Robust Contrast Discrimination Measure

This paper proposes an image fusion method using a noise-robust contrast discrimination measure for night vision applications with short-wave infrared (SWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) cameras. At night, SWIR images typically contain heavy noise while LWIR images contain less noise. The conventional method, which adapts the fusion ratio on the basis of only local contrasts, does not work appropriately for such SWIR and LWIR images since local contrasts of noisy SWIR images are unreliable due to the heavy noise. The proposed method adapts the fusion ratio on the basis of local contrast and noise variance. The experimental results show that the proposed method can generate visually pleasant fused images even when the SWIR images are severely degraded by noise.