A fast, low complexity image fusion algorithm based on multiscale transforms

In this paper, a novel image fusion algorithm based primarily on an improved multi-scale coefficient decomposition framework is proposed. The proposed framework uses a combination of non-subsampled contourlet and wavelet transforms for the initial multi-scale decompositions. The decomposed multiscale coefficients are then fused twice using various local activity measures. Experimental results show that the proposed approach performs better or in par with the existing state-of-the art image fusion algorithms in terms of quantitative and qualitative results. In addition, the proposed image fusion algorithm can produce high quality fused images even with a computationally inexpensive two-scale decomposition.