The Wavelet-based Contourlet Transform for Image Fusion

The wavelet-based Contourlet transform (WBCT) is a new directional transform. This transform uses the wavelet transform and the directional filter bank (DFB) to obtain a multiscale and multidirection decomposition of image. The wavelet transform and the DFB are non-redundant and perfect reconstruction. So the WBCT can be regarded as a non-redundant version of the Contourlet transform. A new image fusion scheme based on the WBCT was presented. Firstly, the WBCT is used to perform a multiscale and multidirection decomposition of each image. Then the WBCT coefficients of fused image are constructed using multiple operators according to different fusion rules. The experimental results show that this new fusion scheme is effective and the fused images are better than that of using the Laplacian pyramid transform, the wavelet transform and the Contourlet transform.