The direct use of curvelets in multifocus fusion

In this effort, a data-driven and application independent technique to combine focal information from different focal planes is presented. Input images, acquired by imaging systems with limited depth of field, are decomposed using a relatively new analysis tool called curvelets. The extracted curvelets are representative of polar `wedges´ from the frequency domain. Fusion is performed on medial and peripheral curvelets by relevant fusion rules and the fused image combines information from different focal planes, while extending the depth of field of the scene. The main contribution in this effort is the direct use of curvelets in combining multifocal images. Several illustrative examples and objective comparisons are provided.