Estimation of Motion Fields from Noisy Image Sequences: Using Generalized Cross-Correlation Methods

The present study proposes an approach for robust motion estimation between two successive image frames from a degraded sequence. The method is based on Generalized Cross-Correlation (GCC) Methods, where the phase of the Fourier components is used for motion parameter estimation. This method uses "Whitening" FIR filters to sharpen the cross correlation maximum, thereby improving the accuracy of identification of the peak. The estimators of interest are the the Phase Transform (PHAT) and the WIENER estimator. For robust motion estimation between two successive image frames degraded it is found that the WIENER estimator is particularly suited to this purpose. The accuracy of the estimators is also discussed. Good results have been obtained for sub-pixel translation of images of different nature and across different spectral bands.