Performance Comparison of Different Graylevel Image Fusion Schemes through a Universal Image Quality Index

摘要

We applied a recently introduced universal image quality index Q that quantifies the distortion of a processed image relative to its original version, to assess the performance of different graylevel image fusion schemes. The method is as follows. First, we adopt an original test image as the reference image. Second, we produce several distorted versions of this reference image. The distortions in the individual images are complementary, meaning that the same distortion should not occur at the same location in all images (it should be absent in at least one image). Thus, the information content of the overall set of distorted images should equal the information content of the original test image. Third, we apply the image fusion process to the set of distorted images. Fourth, we quantify the similarity of the fused image to the reference image by computing the universal image quality index Q. The method can also be used to optimize image fusion schemes for different types of distortions, by maximizing Q through repeated application of steps two and three for different parameter settings of the fusion scheme.