Automatic registration of SAR and visible band remote sensing images

TitleAutomatic registration of SAR and visible band remote sensing images
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2002
AuthorsAli, M., and D. A. Clausi
Conference NameJoint IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium and 24th Canadian Remote Sensing Symposium
Keywordsalgorithm, edge extraction, edge linking pattern extraction, fully automatic registration, geophysical measurement technique, geophysical signal processing, geophysical techniques, image registration, land surface, multi-source image, noise removal, optical imaging, pattern matching, radar imaging, radar remote sensing, Remote Sensing, remote sensing by radar, remote sensing image, SAR, sensor fusion, synthetic aperture radar, terrain mapping, visible band
Abstract

Image registration is one of the basic image processing operations in remote sensing. With an increasing number of images collected every day from different sensors, automated registration of multi-sensor/multi-spectral images has become an important issue. A wide range of registration techniques exists for different types of applications and data sources, however no algorithm is known that can accurately register multi-source images consistently. This research addresses this problem by investigating the development of a fully automatic registration system for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical remote sensing images. The development of this new automatic image registration method is based on the extraction and matching of common features that are visible in both images. The algorithm involves the following five steps: noise removal, edge extraction, edge linking pattern extraction and pattern matching. The application of the developed automatic image registration model to SAR and optical image pairs showed that accurate ground control points (GCPs) could be identified automatically.

DOI10.1109/IGARSS.2002.1026106