An edge-based scale- and affine-invariant algorithm for remote sensing image registration

For remote sensing image registration, we find that affine transformation is suitable to describe the mapping between images. Based on the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), affine-SIFT (ASIFT) is capable of detecting and matching scale- and affine-invariant features. Unlike the blob feature detected in SIFT and ASIFT, a scale-invariant edge-based matching operator is employed in our new method. To find the local features, we first extract edges with a multi-scale edge detector, then the distinctive features (we call these ‘feature from edge’ or FFE) with computed scale are detected, and finally a new matching scheme is introduced for image registration. The algorithm incorporates principal component analysis (PCA) to ease the computational burden, and its affine invariance is embedded by discrete sampling as ASIFT. We present our analysis based on multi-sensor, multi-temporal, and different viewpoint images. The operator shows the potential to become a robust alternative for point-feature-based registration of remote-sensing images as subpixel registration consistency is achieved. We also show that using the proposed edge-based scale- and affine-invariant algorithm (EBSA) results in a significant speedup and fewer false matching pairs compared to the original ASIFT operator.

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