2010 2nd International Asia Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics 2010 2nd International Asia Conference

2010 2nd International Asia Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics

The Study on the Image Fusion for Multisource The Study on the Image Fusion for Multisource
Image Image

Baosen Song, Yongqing Fu Baosen Song, Yongqing Fu

College of Information and Communication Engineering College of Information and Communication Engineering
Harbin Engineering University Harbin Engineering University
Harbin, China, 150001 Harbin, China, 150001

Abstract—Considering evaluation of multisource image fusion
performance, various methods of subjective & quantitative and
objective & qualitative assessments of multisource image fusion
are discussed in this paper. Based on the relationship and
individual characteristics of these measures, the synthetic
evaluation system and criterions of multisource image fusion are
formed. Using these evaluation criteria, the fusion performance
of multisource image fusion based on the features and
interrelations of these methods is analyzed. The experimental and
calculation results show that the fusion evaluation criteria are
effective. Conclusions made may provide guidance to choose
appropriate fusion methods in practice.
Index Terms—Image Fusion,Multisource Image,Fusion
Performance
I. INTRODUCTION
Information fusion is a multi-level and multi-aspect process.
During this process, multi-source information is detected,
integrated, correlated, evaluated, and combined to get a precise
status and identity evaluation as well as a complete and timely
situation assessment and threat evaluation.
Multi-source image fusion is a branch of the multi-sensor
information fusion-fusion of visual information [1]. As a sensor
has various restrictions in its physical features, imaging
mechanism, and viewing angle, a single image sensor usually
cannot extract enough information from a scene, and thus has
difficulties or even cannot give an all-round description for a
scene independently. Multi-source image fusion, however,
provides an effective solution to this problem and has become
an important branch of information fusion.
II. IMAGE FUSION TECHNOLOGY
With taking the image as research object, image fusion
technology is intended to extract the information of
corresponding channel and finally form a composite image in
system output based on certain image processing of multiband
information, which is caught by the single sensor or many
images under same scene acquiring from image sensor of many
different models in an effort to observe or integrate different
image information for further processing. Image fusion method,
is closely relating to the type of processing object and
processing grade, which is mainly determined in compliance
with the actual situation by virtue of the different analyzing
degree and presentations of each image.
In the last two decades, a great deal of model and algorithm
researches are made on image fusions at different levels and
various fusion systems are given around the world[2]. However,
there is yet no generally-accepted complete theory in the
research field of multi-source image fusion so far.
A. Basic Theory of the Image Fusion Technology
Categorized in information fusion, image fusion is a
technology synthesizing the multisource image and image
sequence in multi-measurable space, which reasonably
dominates and utilize the information acquired in the course of
pre-processing the image of same scene caught by many
sensors or by single sensor at different moment based on
making the best use of multi-images in efforts to fuse an image
by virtue of the complementary information in space or time
according to certain standard, as well as improve the quality of
fused image better than any related image to acquire the
consistent explanation or description of the scene and thus
reflect the fact accurately.
Figure1. Information structure of multi-source images
Image fusion integrates the information of many multisource
images for below main purposes:
(1) Denosing. Because the image caught by the sensor is
generally with the noise and the subsequent processing requires
for a limitation of the noise, image fusion thus can be for
reduction of the noise and improvement of the SNR.
(2) Resolution improvement, another important purpose of
image fusion. Because the infrared image transmitted from the
satellite is sometimes with low resolution, image fusion can be
adopted to improve the resolution by fusing the image caught
by other sensors (including optical image, synthetic aperture
image).
Abstract—Considering evaluation of multisource image fusion
performance, various methods of subjective & quantitative and
objective & qualitative assessments of multisource image fusion
are discussed in this paper. Based on the relationship and
individual characteristics of these measures, the synthetic
evaluation system and criterions of multisource image fusion are
formed. Using these evaluation criteria, the fusion performance
of multisource image fusion based on the features and
interrelations of these methods is analyzed. The experimental and
calculation results show that the fusion evaluation criteria are
effective. Conclusions made may provide guidance to choose
appropriate fusion methods in practice.
Index Terms—Image Fusion,Multisource Image,Fusion
Performance
I. INTRODUCTION
Information fusion is a multi-level and multi-aspect process.
During this process, multi-source information is detected,
integrated, correlated, evaluated, and combined to get a precise
status and identity evaluation as well as a complete and timely
situation assessment and threat evaluation.
Multi-source image fusion is a branch of the multi-sensor
information fusion-fusion of visual information [1]. As a sensor
has various restrictions in its physical features, imaging
mechanism, and viewing angle, a single image sensor usually
cannot extract enough information from a scene, and thus has
difficulties or even cannot give an all-round description for a
scene independently. Multi-source image fusion, however,
provides an effective solution to this problem and has become
an important branch of information fusion.
II. IMAGE FUSION TECHNOLOGY
With taking the image as research object, image fusion
technology is intended to extract the information of
corresponding channel and finally form a composite image in
system output based on certain image processing of multiband
information, which is caught by the single sensor or many
images under same scene acquiring from image sensor of many
different models in an effort to observe or integrate different
image information for further processing. Image fusion method,
is closely relating to the type of processing object and
processing grade, which is mainly determined in compliance
with the actual situation by virtue of the different analyzing
degree and presentations of each image.
In the last two decades, a great deal of model and algorithm
researches are made on image fusions at different levels and
various fusion systems are given around the world[2]. However,
there is yet no generally-accepted complete theory in the
research field of multi-source image fusion so far.
A. Basic Theory of the Image Fusion Technology
Categorized in information fusion, image fusion is a
technology synthesizing the multisource image and image
sequence in multi-measurable space, which reasonably
dominates and utilize the information acquired in the course of
pre-processing the image of same scene caught by many
sensors or by single sensor at different moment based on
making the best use of multi-images in efforts to fuse an image
by virtue of the complementary information in space or time
according to certain standard, as well as improve the quality of
fused image better than any related image to acquire the
consistent explanation or description of the scene and thus
reflect the fact accurately.
Figure1. Information structure of multi-source images
Image fusion integrates the information of many multisource
images for below main purposes:
(1) Denosing. Because the image caught by the sensor is
generally with the noise and the subsequent processing requires
for a limitation of the noise, image fusion thus can be for
reduction of the noise and improvement of the SNR.
(2) Resolution improvement, another important purpose of
image fusion. Because the infrared image transmitted from the
satellite is sometimes with low resolution, image fusion can be
adopted to improve the resolution by fusing the image caught
by other sensors (including optical image, synthetic aperture
image).

 
978-1-4244-5194-4/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE CAR 2010 978-1-4244-5194-4/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE CAR 2010

Authorized licensed use limited to: Reva Institute of Tehnology and Management. Downloaded on June 23,2010 at 07:41:15 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 (3) Information improvement content. The information
content shall be improved in the course of image transmission
and image feature extraction, image fusion is an important
means for the improvement of information content.
(4) Definition improvement. In the course of image
processing, it always requires to improve the image quality,
highlight the details and texture feature, as well as preserve the
edge details and energy of the image on the basis of reserving
the original information, image fusion can get these effect
despite it is difficult for some general image enhancement.
(5) To compensate the loss/failure messages in a sensor
image with the images from other sensors. Obviously, the
image fusion technology is not the image enhancement in the
general sense, but a new technology in the computer vision and
image understanding field.
B. Image fusions at different levels
Based on the phase at which the image is fused, there are
three levels of image fusions[3]: Pixel-level image fusion,
feature-level image fusion, and decision-level image fusion .
1) Pixel-level image fusion:
However, provided that such method is adopted, the to-be-
fused data should be caught by the sensor of same type, it
cannot fuse the data caught by the sensor and data acquired in
the course of ground investigation. While the pixel-level fusion
method focuses on fusing the data from all sensors and extracts
the feature vectors from the result according to the
requirements, and makes further estimation and recognition.
The superiority of data-level fusion consists in saving the most
original data of the scene and the result is also accurate more,
but it can process little information in the course of pre-
processing, and resulting in high requirement of
communication bandwidth because of excessive calculation
and poor real-time[4].
2) Feature-level image fusion
Ranked as the fusion of intermediate level, feature fusion
focuses on extracting the feature of original data caught by the
sensor and making a comprehensive analysis and processing of
the information in an effort to achieve the classification,
collection and fusion of such multi-sensor data. In the course of
fusion and processing, the actual forms and content of the main
feature information is closely relating to the application
purpose and situation of the multi-sensor image fusion [5]. If
the data caught by the sensor is the image data, the feature is
abstractly extracted by and from the image pixel information
with the typical features of line type, edge, texture, spectrum,
similar brightness region and field depth region, etc., and then
to realize the feature fusion and classification of multi-sensor
image. Image fusion based on these feature can not only
increase the possibility of extracting the feature from the image,
but also acquire some useful complex feature, as well as find
out relevant feature information, improve the reliability of these
feature information, eliminate the false feature and establish
new complex feature, etc.. Feature fusion predominates in
reaching considerable information compression and convenient
for real-time processing, and good for data processing and
transmission efficiency to promote the real-time processing of
the data, moreover, because the feature acquired is directly
 
pertinent to the decision analysis, the fusion result can show the
most feature information requiring in decision analysis.
3) Decision-level image fusion
Decision image fusion, also called as symbol image fusion,
is a type of high-level information fusion, namely makes a
fusion processing at the superior level of information
representation, which is a course focusing on making logic
reasoning or statistic reasoning of many images’ information, it
will provide a basis for various related control or decision[6].
Such method involves in processing the original data firstly
to respectively obtain the corresponding result of estimation
and recognition, and the fusion center then coordinates the
reliability of each data source decision in accordance with
certain rules to conclude the final result, and the result shall be
the supreme strategy of all fusions.
This method requires a high abstract and lower homogeneity
of data source, the data thus keeps a strong openness and it can
be applied to widely. Furthermore, because it requires to extract
the respective judgment result at the stage of pre-processing, it
asks for the large information processing and the fusion center
reserves little calculation and low requirement of
communication bandwidth. Main advantages of the decision
fusion can be generalized as below:
(1)Low requirement of communication and transmission
and sound real time. Input data from decision fusion is various
feature information and the result obtained shall be the decision
description, and leads to little data volume and strong anti-
interference ability.
(2) High fault tolerance. It can eliminate the data
interference of single or many sensors by appropriate method.
(3) Low data requirement. Because it is abstracted highly,
the sensor can either be homogeneous or heterogeneous, the
reliance and requirement for a sensor is reduced.
(4) Strong analysis ability. It can reflect the overall
information about the object and environment of the object to
satisfy different application requirements.
The above three levels of image fusions are somewhat
corresponding to the three levels of multi-sensor information
fusions. In actual applications, you can choose and combine the
features of the image fusions at different levels for optimal
fusion effect.
For a concrete image fusion system, the information
accepted by it can be the information at a single level and can
also be the information at several levels. The basic strategy of
fusion is first fusing the information at the same level to obtain
the fused information at a higher level, and then performing the
fusion at corresponding level. Therefore, image fusion is
essentially an information processing process of integrating and
level-by-level abstracting the multi-source information from a
low level to a high level. Figure 2 shows the complete process
of image fusion.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Reva Institute of Tehnology and Management. Downloaded on June 23,2010 at 07:41:15 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
(3) Information improvement content. The information
content shall be improved in the course of image transmission
and image feature extraction, image fusion is an important
means for the improvement of information content.
(4) Definition improvement. In the course of image
processing, it always requires to improve the image quality,
highlight the details and texture feature, as well as preserve the
edge details and energy of the image on the basis of reserving
the original information, image fusion can get these effect
despite it is difficult for some general image enhancement.
(5) To compensate the loss/failure messages in a sensor
image with the images from other sensors. Obviously, the
image fusion technology is not the image enhancement in the
general sense, but a new technology in the computer vision and
image understanding field.
B. Image fusions at different levels
Based on the phase at which the image is fused, there are
three levels of image fusions[3]: Pixel-level image fusion,
feature-level image fusion, and decision-level image fusion .
1) Pixel-level image fusion:
However, provided that such method is adopted, the to-be-
fused data should be caught by the sensor of same type, it
cannot fuse the data caught by the sensor and data acquired in
the course of ground investigation. While the pixel-level fusion
method focuses on fusing the data from all sensors and extracts
the feature vectors from the result according to the
requirements, and makes further estimation and recognition.
The superiority of data-level fusion consists in saving the most
original data of the scene and the result is also accurate more,
but it can process little information in the course of pre-
processing, and resulting in high requirement of
communication bandwidth because of excessive calculation
and poor real-time[4].
2) Feature-level image fusion
Ranked as the fusion of intermediate level, feature fusion
focuses on extracting the feature of original data caught by the
sensor and making a comprehensive analysis and processing of
the information in an effort to achieve the classification,
collection and fusion of such multi-sensor data. In the course of
fusion and processing, the actual forms and content of the main
feature information is closely relating to the application
purpose and situation of the multi-sensor image fusion [5]. If
the data caught by the sensor is the image data, the feature is
abstractly extracted by and from the image pixel information
with the typical features of line type, edge, texture, spectrum,
similar brightness region and field depth region, etc., and then
to realize the feature fusion and classification of multi-sensor
image. Image fusion based on these feature can not only
increase the possibility of extracting the feature from the image,
but also acquire some useful complex feature, as well as find
out relevant feature information, improve the reliability of these
feature information, eliminate the false feature and establish
new complex feature, etc.. Feature fusion predominates in
reaching considerable information compression and convenient
for real-time processing, and good for data processing and
transmission efficiency to promote the real-time processing of
the data, moreover, because the feature acquired is directly
pertinent to the decision analysis, the fusion result can show the
most feature information requiring in decision analysis.
3) Decision-level image fusion
Decision image fusion, also called as symbol image fusion,
is a type of high-level information fusion, namely makes a
fusion processing at the superior level of information
representation, which is a course focusing on making logic
reasoning or statistic reasoning of many images’ information, it
will provide a basis for various related control or decision[6].
Such method involves in processing the original data firstly
to respectively obtain the corresponding result of estimation
and recognition, and the fusion center then coordinates the
reliability of each data source decision in accordance with
certain rules to conclude the final result, and the result shall be
the supreme strategy of all fusions.
This method requires a high abstract and lower homogeneity
of data source, the data thus keeps a strong openness and it can
be applied to widely. Furthermore, because it requires to extract
the respective judgment result at the stage of pre-processing, it
asks for the large information processing and the fusion center
reserves little calculation and low requirement of
communication bandwidth. Main advantages of the decision
fusion can be generalized as below:
(1)Low requirement of communication and transmission
and sound real time. Input data from decision fusion is various
feature information and the result obtained shall be the decision
description, and leads to little data volume and strong anti-
interference ability.
(2) High fault tolerance. It can eliminate the data
interference of single or many sensors by appropriate method.
(3) Low data requirement. Because it is abstracted highly,
the sensor can either be homogeneous or heterogeneous, the
reliance and requirement for a sensor is reduced.
(4) Strong analysis ability. It can reflect the overall
information about the object and environment of the object to
satisfy different application requirements.
The above three levels of image fusions are somewhat
corresponding to the three levels of multi-sensor information
fusions. In actual applications, you can choose and combine the
features of the image fusions at different levels for optimal
fusion effect.
For a concrete image fusion system, the information
accepted by it can be the information at a single level and can
also be the information at several levels. The basic strategy of
fusion is first fusing the information at the same level to obtain
the fused information at a higher level, and then performing the
fusion at corresponding level. Therefore, image fusion is
essentially an information processing process of integrating and
level-by-level abstracting the multi-source information from a
low level to a high level. Figure 2 shows the complete process
of image fusion.
 Figure 2. Basic flow of multi-source image fusion
III. SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE IMAGE FUSION
PERFORMANCE
In some cases, image fusion is performed for people. The
purposes of image fusion can be: (1) Improve the performance
of images to improve the visual effect of people; (2) Increase
the content of information in the fused images or the precision
and reliability of the information to provide richer, more
precise, and more reliable image information for people to
make decisions. In this case, the performance of the fused
images is usually observed and evaluated by people.
The understanding or comprehension of people for images
depends on not only the content of the images, but also the
mental state of the observer. As people’s visual system is very
complicated and is affected by the environment condition,
visual performance, mood, interest, and knowledge level,
people's evaluation for the image fusion performance is
somewhat subjective and very complicated. Generally speaking,
the observers making subjective evaluations fall into two
categories: observers without any training and observers
experienced in image technologies. As the information people
use for understanding images derives from not only the
information received by the eyes, but also the image
understanding generated from the past experience and
knowledge, the evaluations made by the above two categories
of observers are quite different. It is worthwhile pointing out
that the evaluation made by an observer who has experience
and is familiar with the image content is usually strict and
easily affected by such subjective factors as experience,
knowledge, environment, and psychology, while the high
evaluation made by an observer who receives no training and is
unfamiliar with the image content does not always truly reflect
the performance of the image.
How to appraise the quality of fusion image shall be a key
procedure for the image fusion. As for the determination of
appraisal index about image fusion effect, it mainly refers to
the selection of objective appraisal index, which is selected
according to the fusion purpose in efforts to compare the

quality of fusion image, on the other hand, to compare the
strongpoint and weakness of the fusion method by the
comparison of fusion image. Different appraisal indexes shall
be adopted for the image with different fusion purposes.
IV. OBJECTIVE EVALUATION CRITERION OF THE IMAGE
FUSION PERFORMANCE
Based on the previous analysis, we can select suitable
objective performance indicators to evaluate the image fusion
effect and the performance of the fusion algorithm based on the
requirements and fusion purpose in the actual application. The
following are the general principles for selecting objective
performance indicators based on the fusion purpose.
1) Compare the fusion methods: by using different fusion
methods to fuse the same group of source images, you can
obtain different fusion results. You can use such evaluation
indicators as root mean square error, cross entropy, mutual
information, and combination entropy.
2) Increase the spatial resolution: increasing the spatial
resolution of the image is an important purpose of remote
sensing image fusion. For such image fusion, you can use such
indicators as image average value, standard deviation, and
spatial resolution to evaluate its effect.
3) Improve the resolution: image fusion usually requires
improving the image performance, enhancing the detail
information and texture features of the image, remain the edge
details and energy without losing the original main information.
You can select such evaluation indicators as standard deviation,
average gradient, spatial frequency, and contrast variation.
4) To evaluate whether the information content of a fused
image is increased or not, you can use such indicators as
entropy, cross entropy, mutual information, combination
entropy, and standard deviation.
5) Reduce the image noise: Usually, the multi-source images
obtained from the sensor are images with noise. The
subsequent image processing usually requires to control the
Authorized licensed use limited to: Reva Institute of Tehnology and Management. Downloaded on June 23,2010 at 07:41:15 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Figure 2. Basic flow of multi-source image fusion
III. SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE IMAGE FUSION
PERFORMANCE
In some cases, image fusion is performed for people. The
purposes of image fusion can be: (1) Improve the performance
of images to improve the visual effect of people; (2) Increase
the content of information in the fused images or the precision
and reliability of the information to provide richer, more
precise, and more reliable image information for people to
make decisions. In this case, the performance of the fused
images is usually observed and evaluated by people.
The understanding or comprehension of people for images
depends on not only the content of the images, but also the
mental state of the observer. As people’s visual system is very
complicated and is affected by the environment condition,
visual performance, mood, interest, and knowledge level,
people's evaluation for the image fusion performance is
somewhat subjective and very complicated. Generally speaking,
the observers making subjective evaluations fall into two
categories: observers without any training and observers
experienced in image technologies. As the information people
use for understanding images derives from not only the
information received by the eyes, but also the image
understanding generated from the past experience and
knowledge, the evaluations made by the above two categories
of observers are quite different. It is worthwhile pointing out
that the evaluation made by an observer who has experience
and is familiar with the image content is usually strict and
easily affected by such subjective factors as experience,
knowledge, environment, and psychology, while the high
evaluation made by an observer who receives no training and is
unfamiliar with the image content does not always truly reflect
the performance of the image.
How to appraise the quality of fusion image shall be a key
procedure for the image fusion. As for the determination of
appraisal index about image fusion effect, it mainly refers to
the selection of objective appraisal index, which is selected
according to the fusion purpose in efforts to compare the

quality of fusion image, on the other hand, to compare the
strongpoint and weakness of the fusion method by the
comparison of fusion image. Different appraisal indexes shall
be adopted for the image with different fusion purposes.
IV. OBJECTIVE EVALUATION CRITERION OF THE IMAGE
FUSION PERFORMANCE
Based on the previous analysis, we can select suitable
objective performance indicators to evaluate the image fusion
effect and the performance of the fusion algorithm based on the
requirements and fusion purpose in the actual application. The
following are the general principles for selecting objective
performance indicators based on the fusion purpose.
1) Compare the fusion methods: by using different fusion
methods to fuse the same group of source images, you can
obtain different fusion results. You can use such evaluation
indicators as root mean square error, cross entropy, mutual
information, and combination entropy.
2) Increase the spatial resolution: increasing the spatial
resolution of the image is an important purpose of remote
sensing image fusion. For such image fusion, you can use such
indicators as image average value, standard deviation, and
spatial resolution to evaluate its effect.
3) Improve the resolution: image fusion usually requires
improving the image performance, enhancing the detail
information and texture features of the image, remain the edge
details and energy without losing the original main information.
You can select such evaluation indicators as standard deviation,
average gradient, spatial frequency, and contrast variation.
4) To evaluate whether the information content of a fused
image is increased or not, you can use such indicators as
entropy, cross entropy, mutual information, combination
entropy, and standard deviation.
5) Reduce the image noise: Usually, the multi-source images
obtained from the sensor are images with noise. The
subsequent image processing usually requires to control the
 Figure 3. Synthetic evaluation system of multi-source image fusion performance
noise within a certain range. Therefore, the fusion method is
used to reduce the noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
6) Fuse the spectral characteristic of the image: to evaluate
whether the spectral characteristic of the fused image is
changed compared to the source image, you can use such
indicators as deviation index, correlation coefficient, and
spectral distortion.
Of course, we should not use only objective evaluation
methods without any subjective evaluation, but combine
subjective evaluation with objective quantitative evaluation
criterion for synthetically evaluation, that is, perform objective
quantitative evaluation of the image fusion performance based
on the subjective qualitative visual evaluation. Figure 3 shows
the synthetic evaluation system of multi-source image fusion
performance.
V. CONCLUSIONS
At present, a great many researches on the multi-source
image fusion technology are going on, while little is done for
the evaluation of the multi-source image fusion performance,
which, however, is very important and meaningful for the
objective and quantitative evaluation of the multi-source image
fusion performance. This document, by focusing on the
evaluation problems in the multi-source image fusion, gives an
evaluation system for multi-source image fusion as well as
evaluation criterion, which will promote the researches on the
multi-source image fusion technology.

REFERENCES
[1] Te-Ming Tu, Shun-Chi Su, Hsuen-Chyun. A new look at HSI-like image
fusion methods. Information Fusion, 2008, 2(5):177-186.
[2] Zhang E, J S Zhang, V W Song. Pixel-by-Pixel VIS NIR and LIR Sensor
Fusion System. Proceedings of SPIE, 2008, 4820: 535-549.
[3] Varshney P K. Multisensor data fusion. Electronic&Communication
Engineering. 1997, 9(6): 245-253.
[4] Xue Z., Blum R.S. and Li Y., Fusion of visual and IR images for
concealed weapon detection, in Proc. of Int. Conf on Information Fusion,
2002, vol. 2: 1198-1205.
[5] Zhang Z. and Blum R.S., A categorization of multiscale-decomposition-
based image fusion schemes with a performance study for a digital camera
application, Proceedings of the IEEE 1999, 87(8): 1315-1326.
[6] Chavez P.S., Sides S.C. and Anderson J.A., Comparison of three
difference methods to merge multiresolution and multispectral data: Landsat
TM and SPOT panchromatic, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote
Sensing, 1991, 57(3): 295-303.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Reva Institute of Tehnology and Management. Downloaded on June 23,2010 at 07:41:15 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Figure 3. Synthetic evaluation system of multi-source image fusion performance
noise within a certain range. Therefore, the fusion method is REFERENCES
used to reduce the noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. [1] Te-Ming Tu, Shun-Chi Su, Hsuen-Chyun. A new look at HSI-like image
6) Fuse the spectral characteristic of the image: to evaluate fusion methods. Information Fusion, 2008, 2(5):177-186.
whether the spectral characteristic of the fused image is [2] Zhang E, J S Zhang, V W Song. Pixel-by-Pixel VIS NIR and LIR Sensor
changed compared to the source image, you can use such Fusion System. Proceedings of SPIE, 2008, 4820: 535-549.
[3] Varshney P K. Multisensor data fusion. Electronic&Communication
indicators as deviation index, correlation coefficient, and Engineering. 1997, 9(6): 245-253.
spectral distortion. [4] Xue Z., Blum R.S. and Li Y., Fusion of visual and IR images for
Of course, we should not use only objective evaluation concealed weapon detection, in Proc. of Int. Conf on Information Fusion,
methods without any subjective evaluation, but combine 2002, vol. 2: 1198-1205.
[5] Zhang Z. and Blum R.S., A categorization of multiscale-decomposition-
subjective evaluation with objective quantitative evaluation based image fusion schemes with a performance study for a digital camera
criterion for synthetically evaluation, that is, perform objective application, Proceedings of the IEEE 1999, 87(8): 1315-1326.
quantitative evaluation of the image fusion performance based [6] Chavez P.S., Sides S.C. and Anderson J.A., Comparison of three
on the subjective qualitative visual evaluation. Figure 3 shows difference methods to merge multiresolution and multispectral data: Landsat
TM and SPOT panchromatic, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote
the synthetic evaluation system of multi-source image fusion Sensing, 1991, 57(3): 295-303.
performance.
V. CONCLUSIONS
At present, a great many researches on the multi-source
image fusion technology are going on, while little is done for
the evaluation of the multi-source image fusion performance,
which, however, is very important and meaningful for the
objective and quantitative evaluation of the multi-source image
fusion performance. This document, by focusing on the
evaluation problems in the multi-source image fusion, gives an
evaluation system for multi-source image fusion as well as
evaluation criterion, which will promote the researches on the
multi-source image fusion technology.