Automatic registration method for distant ship infrared and visible image

Because the poor photography conditions and the far distance to target ship, the target information and features which could be extracted from the infrared and visible images were so weak that the conventional image registration methods were difficult to take effect on the registration for distant ship infrared and visible image. To solve the problem, this paper presents a sensors' parameters based infrared and visible image registration method. Firstly, the infrared and visible images are registered in spatial resolution on the basis of sensors' parameters. Secondly, a rough shift registration is performed by taking the ship target's contour centre point in infrared and visible image as the matching points. Lastly, on the basis of rough registration, an accurate shift registration is performed by using the maximization of mutual information (MMI) technique. The experimental results proved that the proposed method is feasible and effective. It can be used in the actual registration for distant ship infrared and visible image.