Near natural color mapping and band difference enhancement fusion of MWIR/LWIR images

Abstract

Dual-band MWIR/LWIR imaging technology has the advantages of the two bands, through complementary advantages, can improve the ability to adapt to complex environment, the recognition rate of different targets. In application, how to combine and enhance the information of the two bands and present better visual effects through image fusion is the key problem to effectively utilize the advantages of the two bands. Color fusion has become the main method of infrared image fusion because of the ability of human eye color vision to fully retain dual-band information. The false color fusion algorithm is helpful to improve the recognition accuracy, but the color distribution violating human visual habit will increase the reaction time. Natural color fusion can accord with human visual habits to the greatest extent but will weaken the infrared radiation characteristics and band differences. In this paper, an image fusion framework is proposed, which preserves and intensifies the band difference through the difference enhancement of false color, and achieves the color distribution close to the natural scene through color mapping. Simulation experiments are carried out for infrared medium and long wave images of different scenes. The results show that while preserving the spatial information of the two bands, the differences of the bands are enhanced and highlighted, and the color distribution of the fused image is close to the natural scene to a certain extent. It shows that the algorithm in this paper combines the advantages of the fusion of false color and natural color to some extent, and achieves the effect consistent with human visual habits as much as possible on the premise of enhancing the difference of band.