Potential utility and needs for imagery fusion technology

The United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) is an information provision organization which copes with large volumes of data supplied by various imagery sources. These image data types are used to support policy makers and military commands. In supporting these decision makers, accuracy and timeliness are critical. Fusion of various image data types provides increased data dimensionality that could lead to more robust solutions to these customer problems. NIMA needs to assure significant improvement in processing algorithms and achieve greater efficiencies to adequately perform future mission functions. NIMA is transitioning to digital image data processes requiring softcopy exploitation of enormous data volumes. This, coupled with rapid changes in digital technologies, is providing fertile ground for the application of fusion concepts to improve organizational performance. Imagery fusion products show potential for improvement of NIMA´s work on Assisted Feature Extraction/Assisted Target Recognition, Change Detection, Modality Understanding, Site Modeling, and Terrain Visualization. Like other data and imagery users, NIMA needs to make image fusion advances that will highlight important information and present more information than is evident in individual images. These increases in information should provide improved efficiency, reduced uncertainty, and enhanced performance. As multi-modality image registration and fusion techniques mature, they could be critical enablers to NIMA´s future success. NIMA and the United States Imagery and Geospatial Information Service will benefit from advanced enabling technology research in these areas.