Fusion method of infrared-polarization images based on common and unique salient feature

In the conventional infrared-polarization fusion method based on HSV color space, the problem of low color contrast and information loss or artifacts always exist which would impact the observation and processing of the fusion results. The cause of low color contrast in conventional method is analyzed in this paper, and an improved method is proposed. We find that some improvements could be done based on Channel S and Cannel V separately which could enhance the details in the regions of interest and maintain the precision of image as well. For Channel S, saliency extraction and morphological filtering are implemented to obtain the salient features of intensity image and degree of polarization image, while the redundant background information could be suppressed. The detail enhancement in Channel S could be realized through the fusion of common and unique feature of the salient images extracted above. For Channel V, the common and unique feature fusion between the salient degree of polarization image and intensity image could enhance the details in Channel V. Experimental results have proved that the method we illustrate could obtain better color contrast and less artifacts compared to the conventional fusion methods.