The objective of image fusion is to combine information from multiple image of the

same scene. The result of image fusion is a new image which is more suitable for
human and machine perception or further image-processing tasks such as
segmentation, feature extraction and object recognition. Different fusion methods
have been proposed in literature, including multiresolution analysis. Image fusion is
the information fusion in image processing area. It's a important application of the
wavelet analysis has characteristics such as multi-resolution it can effectively
feature is apparent. High resolution image fusion together.
Image fusion involves merging two or more images in such a way as to retain the
most desirable characteristics of each. When a panchromatic image is fused with
multispectral imagery, the desired result is an image with the spatial resolution and
quality of the panchromatic imagery and the spectral resolution and quality of the
multispectral imagery. Standard image fusion methods are often successful at
injecting spatial detail into the multispectral imagery but distort the color
information in the process. Over the past decade, a significant amount of research
has been conducted concerning the application of wavelet transforms in image
fusion. In this paper, an introduction to wavelet transform theory and an overview of
image fusion technique are given, and the results from a number of wavelet-based
image fusion schemes are compared. It has been found that, in general, waveletbased schemes perform better than standard schemes, particularly in terms of
minimizing color distortion. Schemes that combine standard methods with wavelet
transforms produce superior results than either standard methods or simple
wavelet-based methods alone. The results from wavelet-based methods can also be
improved by applying more sophisticated models for injecting detail information;
however, these schemes often have greater set-up requirements.
Here briefly introduces what is wavelet transform to continuous wavelet transform
and discrete wavelet transform and its image processing. The core ideas - multiresolution analysis conducted emphatically analyzed. Given the image fusion of
wavelet transform the theoretical basis wavelet decomposition and reconstruction
of wavelet frame-chart.
This paper discusses the based on wavelet analysis of image fusion basic principle,
method and advantages. Introduces image fusion based on wavelet analysis is
proposed based on edge, and maintain the wavelet image fusion method. Analysis
and comparison of the traditional wavelet image fusion based on edge of wavelet
image fusion.

KEYWORDS: Image fusion, Wavelet transform

Image fusion is the process by which two or more images are combined into a single
image retaining the important features from each of the original images. The fusion
of images is often required for images acquired from different instrument modalities
or capture techniques of the same scene or objects. Important applications of the
fusion of images include medical imaging, microscopic imaging, remote sensing,
computer vision, and robotics. Fusion techniques include the simplest method of
pixel averaging to more complicated methods such as principal component analysis
and wavelet transform fusion. Several approaches to image fusion can be
distinguished, depending on whether the images are fused in the spatial domain or
they are transformed into another domain, and their transforms fused.
With the availability of multisensor data in many fields, such as remote sensing,
medical imaging or machine vision, sensor fusion has emerged as a new and
promising research area. It is possible to have several images of the same scene
providing different information although the scene is the same. This is because each
image has been captured with a different sensor. If we are able to merge the
different information to obtain a new and improved image, we have a fused image
and the method is called a fusion scheme.
It is often desirable to fuse images from different sources, acquired at different
times, or otherwise having different characteristics. There are various methods that
have been developed to perform image fusion, particularly for multispectral and
panchromatic imagery. The standard image fusion techniques, such as those that
use IHS, PCA, and Brovey transforms, however, can often produce poor results, at
least in comparison with the ideal output of the fusion. (In this paper, these fusion
techniques will be referred to by the name of the transform used, for simplicity.)
New approaches, or improvements on existing approaches, are regularly being
proposed that address particular problems with the standard techniques. Most
recently, the potential benefits of wavelet-based image fusion methods have been
explored in a variety of fields and for a variety of purposes.
Wavelet theory has developed since the beginning of the last century. It was first
applied to signal processing in the 1980's, and over the past decade it has been
recognized as having great potential in image processing applications (Graps,
1995). Wavelet transforms are essentially extensions of the idea of high pass
filtering. In visual terms, image detail is a result of high contrast between features,
for example a light rooftop and dark ground, and high contrast in the spatial domain
corresponds to high values in the frequency domain. Frequency information can be
extracted by applying Fourier transforms, however it is then no longer associated
with any spatial information. Wavelet transforms can therefore be more useful than
Fourier transforms, since they are based on functions that are localized in both
space and frequency (Vidakovic and Mueller,1994). The detail information that is
extracted from one image using wavelet transforms can be injected into another
image using one of a number of methods, for example substitution, addition, or a
selection method based on either frequency or spatial context. Furthermore, the

wavelet function used in the transform can be designed to have specific properties
that are useful in the particular application of the transform (Mallat,
1999).Experiments with wavelet-based fusion schemes have, for the most part,
produced positive results, although there are some negative aspects, such as the
introduction of artifacts in the fused image when decimated algorithms are used. In
earlier studies (e.g. Garguet-Duport et al., 1996; Yocky, 1996; Ranchin and Wald,
2000), wavelet based schemes were generally assessed in comparison to standard
schemes; more recent studies propose hybrid schemes (e.g. Zhang and Hong, 2005;
Gonzalez-Audicana et al., 2005, 2004), which use wavelets to extract the detail
information from one image and standard image transformations to inject it into
another image, or propose improvements in themethod of injecting information (e.g.
Garzelli and Nencini, 2005; Otazu et al., 2005; Wu et al., 2005). These approaches
seem to achieve better results than either the standard image fusion schemes (e.g.
IHS,PCA) or standard wavelet-based image fusion schemes (e.g. substitution,
addition); however, they involve greater computational complexity. Due to the
variety of wavelet-based fusion schemes that have been developed, each one
involving different and sometimes extensive mathematical descriptions, it can be
difficult for readers, especially beginners, to grasp the essential theory behind
wavelet-based fusion. Furthermore, since there is neither a naming convention for
these fusion schemes nor an accepted method for assessing the performance of
these fusion schemes, it can be difficult to gain a general understanding about
existing fusion techniques, to determine their similarities and differences, and to
see the advantages and limitations of individual wavelet-based fusion schemes.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to facilitate the understanding of current
wavelet-based fusion methods and to provide a review and comparison of the
methods by introducing basic wavelet theory (Section 2), reviewing different fusion
schemes (Section 3), and comparing a selection of research papers involving
wavelet transforms (Section 4). These methods are further analyzed and discussed
and some overall comments are given regarding the advantages and limitations of
wavelet-based fusion