Automatic and accurate registration of VHR optical and SAR images using a quadtree structure

In this article, we combined intensity- and feature-based similarity measures to co-register very-high-resolution (VHR) optical and SAR images. The global translation difference between optical and SAR images is minimized by applying a mutual information (MI) intensity-based similarity measure from coarsest to finest pyramid images constructed from the images in order. Matching points are then extracted considering the spatial distance and gradient orientation of linear features extracted from each image. To increase the reliability of the registration result, a quadtree-based structure is constructed (1) to mask out regions from the similarity measurement such as dense urban or heterogeneous areas, which can cause large differences in geometric and radiometric properties in two images; and (2) to extract evenly distributed and precise matching points by considering regional properties of the study site. To evaluate the proposed method’s generalization, various VHR optical and SAR sensors are used and compounded to construct the study sites. Evenly distributed matching points across the whole image were extracted, and reliable registration results by a non-linear transformation constructed from the points were derived from the proposed method.

[1]  E. Nezry,et al.  Adaptive speckle filters and scene heterogeneity , 1990 .

[2]  A. Ardeshir Goshtasby,et al.  A comparative study of transformation functions for nonrigid image registration , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[3]  Qing Zhu,et al.  Seed point selection method for triangle constrained image matching propagation , 2006, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[4]  Li Wang,et al.  A robust multisource image automatic registration system based on the SIFT descriptor , 2012 .

[5]  Lei Huang,et al.  Feature-based image registration using the shape context , 2010 .

[6]  Helko Breit,et al.  TerraSAR-X Ground Segment Basic Product Specification Document , 2008 .

[7]  Youkyung Han,et al.  Automatic Registration of High-Resolution Images Using Local Properties of Features , 2012 .

[8]  I Dowman,et al.  A new approach to automatic feature based registration of SAR and SPOT images , 2000 .

[9]  Maurizio Santoro,et al.  Signatures of ALOS PALSAR L-Band Backscatter in Swedish Forest , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[10]  Paul A. Viola,et al.  Alignment by Maximization of Mutual Information , 1997, International Journal of Computer Vision.

[11]  Jordi Inglada,et al.  On the possibility of automatic multisensor image registration , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[12]  John A. Nelder,et al.  A Simplex Method for Function Minimization , 1965, Comput. J..

[13]  Jean-Yves Tourneret,et al.  High-Resolution Optical and SAR Image Fusion for Building Database Updating , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[14]  Hanan Samet,et al.  The Quadtree and Related Hierarchical Data Structures , 1984, CSUR.

[15]  Pramod K. Varshney,et al.  Mutual information-based image registration for remote sensing data , 2003 .

[16]  Qi Li,et al.  Multimodality Image Registration by Particle Swarm Optimization of Mutual Information , 2007, ICIC.

[17]  Jacqueline Le Moigne,et al.  Multiresolution registration of remote sensing imagery by optimization of mutual information using a stochastic gradient , 2003, IEEE Trans. Image Process..

[18]  Vicente Arévalo,et al.  An experimental evaluation of non‐rigid registration techniques on Quickbird satellite imagery , 2008 .

[19]  Andreas Schenk,et al.  Characterization of Land Cover Types in TerraSAR-X Images by Combined Analysis of Speckle Statistics and Intensity Information , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[20]  A. Ardeshir Goshtasby,et al.  Piecewise linear mapping functions for image registration , 1986, Pattern Recognit..

[21]  William J. Emery,et al.  Exploiting SAR and VHR Optical Images to Quantify Damage Caused by the 2003 Bam Earthquake , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[22]  Ming Tang,et al.  A novel registration method for SAR and SPOT images , 2005, IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 2005.

[23]  Haiying Zhang,et al.  Automatic matching of high‐resolution SAR images , 2007 .

[24]  Peter Reinartz,et al.  REGISTRATION OF OPTICAL AND SAR SATELLITE IMAGES BASED ON GEOMETRIC FEATURE TEMPLATES , 2015 .

[25]  Kidiyo Kpalma,et al.  An automatic image registration for applications in remote sensing , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[26]  Mark R. Pickering,et al.  Robust Automatic Registration of Multimodal Satellite Images Using CCRE With Partial Volume Interpolation , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[27]  Peter Reinartz,et al.  Applicability of the SIFT operator to geometric SAR image registration , 2010 .

[28]  Jan Flusser,et al.  Image registration methods: a survey , 2003, Image Vis. Comput..

[29]  Peter Reinartz,et al.  Orthorectification of VHR optical satellite data exploiting the geometric accuracy of TerraSAR-X data , 2011 .

[30]  Chunhong Pan,et al.  Registration of Optical and SAR Satellite Images by Exploring the Spatial Relationship of the Improved SIFT , 2013, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[31]  Peter Reinartz,et al.  Mutual-Information-Based Registration of TerraSAR-X and Ikonos Imagery in Urban Areas , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[32]  Warren B. Cohen,et al.  Automated designation of tie-points for image-to-image coregistration , 2003 .

[33]  Uwe Soergel,et al.  Building Detection From One Orthophoto and High-Resolution InSAR Data Using Conditional Random Fields , 2011, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[34]  Lorenzo Bruzzone,et al.  Earthquake Damage Assessment of Buildings Using VHR Optical and SAR Imagery , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[35]  M. Montaz Ali,et al.  A direct search variant of the simulated annealing algorithm for optimization involving continuous variables , 2002, Comput. Oper. Res..

[36]  John F. Canny,et al.  A Computational Approach to Edge Detection , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[37]  Frank W. Gerlach,et al.  IKONOS satellite, imagery, and products , 2003 .

[38]  R. Schowengerdt,et al.  A robust technique for precise registration of radar and optical satellite images , 2005 .

[39]  Ian Dowman,et al.  An improved model for automatic feature-based registration of SAR and SPOT images , 2001 .

[40]  Yongil Kim,et al.  Parameter Optimization for the Extraction of Matching Points Between High-Resolution Multisensor Images in Urban Areas , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.