Multi-focus image fusion based on the non-subsampled contourlet transform

In this paper, a new image fusion algorithm based on non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) is proposed for the fusion of multi-focus images. The selection of different subband coefficients obtained by the NSCT decomposition is critical to image fusion. So, in this paper, firstly, original images are decomposed into different frequency subband coefficients by NSCT. Secondly, the selection of the low-frequency subband coefficients and the bandpass directional subband coefficients is discussed in detail. For the selection of the low-frequency subband coefficients, the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) method is adopted. For the selection of bandpass directional subband coefficients, a regional cross-gradient method that selects the coefficients according to the minimum of the regional cross-gradient is proposed. Finally, the fused image is obtained by performing the inverse NSCT on the combined coefficients. The experimental results show that the proposed fusion algorithm can achieve significant results in getting a new image where all parts are sharp.     

Improving medical image fusion method using fuzzy entropy and nonsubsampling contourlet transform

Many types of medical images must be fused, as single‐modality medical images can only provide limited information due to the imaging principles and the complexity of human organ structures. In this paper, a multimodal medical image fusion method that combines the advantages of nonsubsampling contourlet transform (NSCT) and fuzzy entropy is proposed to provide a basis for clinical diagnosis and improve the accuracy of target recognition and the quality of fused images. An image is initially decomposed into low‐ and high‐frequency subbands through NSCT. The corresponding fusion rules are adopted in accordance with the different characteristics of the low‐ and high‐frequency components. The membership degree of low‐frequency coefficients is calculated. The fuzzy entropy is also computed and subsequently used to guide the fusion of coefficients to preserve image details. High‐frequency components are fused by maximizing the regional energy. The final fused image is obtained by inverse transformation. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves good fusion effect based on the subjective visual effect and objective evaluation criteria. This method can also obtain high average gradient, SD, and edge preservation and effectively retain the details of the fused image. The results of the proposed algorithm can provide effective reference for doctors to assess patient condition.     

An improved multimodal medical image fusion scheme based on hybrid combination of nonsubsampled contourlet transform and stationary wavelet transform

This research proposes an improved hybrid fusion scheme for non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and stationary wavelet transform (SWT). Initially, the source images are decomposed into different sub-bands using NSCT. The locally weighted sum of square of the coefficients based fusion rule with consistency verification is used to fuse the detailed coefficients of NSCT. The SWT is employed to decompose approximation coefficients of NSCT into different sub-bands. The entropy of square of the coefficients and weighted sum-modified Laplacian is employed as the fusion rules with SWT. The final output is obtained using inverse NSCT. The proposed research is compared with existing fusion schemes visually and quantitatively. From the visual analysis, it is observed that the proposed scheme retained important complementary information of source images in a better way. From the quantitative comparison, it is seen that this scheme gave improved edge information, clarity, contrast, texture, and brightness in the fused image.     

Image fusion for synthetic aperture radar and multispectral images based on sub-band-modulated non-subsampled contourlet transform and pulse coupled neural network methods

Fusion of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and multispectral (MS) images can contribute to a better visual perception of the objects observed. Unfortunately, many classical approaches have been proven to be unsuitable for this task due to their intrinsic differences in imaging mechanism. In the non-subsampled contourlet transform domain, an alternative fusion method based on pulse coupled neural networks is proposed. To control the amount of SAR features to be integrated into MS image, a gradient-threshold combined modulation is designed for modulating the SAR sub-band coefficients. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms its counterparts in spectral preservation and feature enhancement.     

Medical image contrast enhancement based on improved sparrow search algorithm

The collection or transmission of medical images is often disturbed by various factors, such as insufficient brightness and noise pollution, which will result in the deterioration of image quality and significantly affect the clinical diagnosis. To improve the quality of medical images, a contrast enhancement method based on improved sparrow search algorithm is proposed in this paper. The method is divided into two steps to enhance the medical images. First, a new transform function is introduced to improve the brightness or contrast of medical images, and two parameters in the transform function are optimized by the improved sparrow search algorithm. Second, adaptive histogram equalization method with contrast limited is used to equalize the result image of the previous step to make the pixel distribution of the image more uniform. Finally, a large number of experiments and qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted on the common data sets. The analysis results demonstrate that the presented approach outperforms some existing medical image processing approaches.     

A novel multi-modal medical image fusion method based on shift-invariant shearlet transform

Abstract

Medical image fusion plays an important role in clinical applications, such as image-guided surgery, image-guided radiotherapy, non-invasive diagnosis and treatment planning. Shearlet is a novel multi-scale geometric analysis (MGA) tool proposed recently. In order to overcome the drawback of the shearlet-based fusion methods that the pseudo-Gibbs phenomenon is easily caused around the singularities of the fused image, a new multi-modal medical image fusion method is proposed in shift-invariant shearlet transform domain. First, the original images are decomposed into lowpass sub-bands and highpass sub-bands; then, the lowpass sub-bands and high sub-bands are combined according to the fusion rules, respectively. All the operations are performed in shift-invariant shearlet domain. The final fused image is obtained by directly applying inverse shift-invariant shearlet transform to the fused lowpass sub-bands and highpass sub-bands. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can not only suppress the pseudo-Gibbs phenomenon efficiently, but perform better than the popular wavelet transform-based method, contourlet transform-based method and non-subsampled contourlet transform-based method.     

Medical image enhancement algorithm based on NSCT and the improved fuzzy contrast

In order to solve the problem of noise amplification, low contrast and image distortion in the process of medical image enhancement, a new algorithm is proposed which combines NSCT (nonsubsampled contourlet transform) and improved fuzzy contrast. The image is decomposed by NSCT. Firstly, linear enhancement method is used in low frequency coefficients; secondly the improved adaptive threshold function is used to deal with the high frequency coefficients. Finally, the improved fuzzy contrast is used to enhance the global contrast and the Laplace operator is used to enhance the details of the medical images. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the image visual effects, remove the noise and enhance the details of medical images. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 25, 7–14, 2015     

Image fusion based on wavelet transform and gray-level features

Image fusion makes the fused image more reliable and intelligible, and more suitable for human vision and computer detection, classification, recognition and understanding. This paper proposes a pixel-level image fusion method for merging two source images of the same scene using wavelet transform and gray-level features (GLF). First, a three-level discrete two-dimensional wavelet transform is used to decompose the two source images into low-frequency image components and horizontal, vertical, and diagonal high-frequency components. Then, the spatial frequency correlation coefficient is used to determine the pixel fusion rule to apply to each of the low-frequency images, and the correlation coefficient of the GLF is used to determine the pixel fusion rule to apply to each of the high-frequency images. Finally, the fused image is reconstructed using inverse wavelet transform. The results of the experiments conducted indicate that the proposed method is more effective than relevant conventional methods.     

Contrast enhancement using real coded genetic algorithm based modified histogram equalization for gray scale images

Histogram equalization is a well‐known technique used for contrast enhancement. The global HE usually results in excessive contrast enhancement because of lack of control on the level of contrast enhancement. A new technique named modified histogram equalization using real coded genetic algorithm (MHERCGA) is aimed to sweep over this drawback. The primary aim of this paper is to obtain an enhanced method which keeps the original brightness. This method incorporates a provision to have a control over the level of contrast enhancement and applicable for all types of image including low contrast MRI brain images. The basic idea of this technique is to partition the input image histogram into two subhistograms based on a threshold which is obtained using Otsu's optimality principle. Then, bicriteria optimization problem is formulated to satisfy the aforementioned requirements. The subhistograms are modified by selecting optimal contrast enhancement parameters. Finally, the union of the modified subhistograms produce a contrast enhanced and details preserved output image. While developing an optimization problem, real coded genetic algorithm is applied to determine the optimal value of contrast enhancement parameters. This mechanism enhances the contrast of the input image better than the existing contemporary HE methods. The quality of the enhanced brain image indicates that the image obtained after this method can be useful for efficient detection of brain cancer in further process like segmentation, classification, etc. The performance of the proposed method is well supported by the contrast enhancement quantitative metrics such as discrete entropy and natural image quality evaluator. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 25, 24–32, 2015     

Medical image fusion based on laws of texture energy measures in stationary wavelet transform domain

Medical image fusion is widely used in various clinical procedures for the precise diagnosis of a disease. Image fusion procedures are used to assist real-time image-guided surgery. These procedures demand more accuracy and less computational complexity in modern diagnostics. Through the present work, we proposed a novel image fusion method based on stationary wavelet transform (SWT) and texture energy measures (TEMs) to address poor contrast and high-computational complexity issues of fusion outcomes. SWT extracts approximate and detail information of source images. TEMs have the capability to capture various features of the image. These are considered for fusion of approximate information. In addition, the morphological operations are used to refine the fusion process. Datasets consisting of images of seven patients suffering from neurological disorders are used in this study. Quantitative comparison of fusion results with visual information fidelity-based image fusion quality metric, ratio of spatial frequency error, edge information-based image fusion quality metric, and structural similarity index-based image fusion quality metrics proved the superiority. Also, the proposed method is superior in terms of average execution time to state-of-the-art image fusion methods. The proposed work can be extended for fusion of other imaging modalities like fusion of functional image with an anatomical image. Suitability of the fused images by the proposed method for image analysis tasks needs to be studied.     

Modified Global Flower Pollination Algorithm‐based image fusion for medical diagnosis using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging

Recently, the computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) medical image fusion have turned into a challenging issue in the medical field. The optimal fused image is a significant component to detect the disease easily. In this research, we propose an iterative optimization approach for CT and MRI image fusion. Initially, the CT and MRI image fusion is subjected to a multilabel optimization problem. The main aim is to minimize the data and smoothness cost during image fusion. To optimize the fusion parameters, the Modified Global Flower Pollination Algorithm is proposed. Here, six sets of fusion images with different experimental analysis are evaluated in terms of different evaluation metrics such as accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, SD, structural similarity index, feature similarity index, mutual information, fusion quality, and root mean square error (RMSE). While comparing to state‐of‐art methods, the proposed fusion model provides best RMSE with higher fusion performance. Experiments on a set of MRI and CT images of medical data set show that the proposed method outperforms a very competitive performance in terms of fusion quality.     

基于梯度权重规则的IHS变换与小波变换结合算法

针对多光谱图像与全色图像的融合,本文在认真分析了IHS变换、小波变换,以及基于梯度绝对值最大准则的IHS变换与小波变换结合算法的基础上,提出了一种基于梯度权重规则的改进算法.在使用小波变换融合多光谱图像I分量与全色图像时,计算二者高频细节分量的梯度作为权重,实现高频细节信息的融合;低频近似分量采用经验调节权系数的方式,运用加权和准则融合获得.融合所得新I'分量与之前多光谱图像IHS变换分离出的色度H和饱和度S进行逆变换,生成最终的融合图像.实验结果表明,该方法在保留多光谱图像光谱信息的基础上,有效地增强了融合图像的空间细节表现能力.     

Multimodal sensor medical image fusion based on mutual‐structure for joint filtering using sparse representation

Multimodal sensor medical image fusion has been widely reported in recent years, but the fused image by the existing methods introduces low contrast information and little detail information. To overcome this problem, the new image fusion method is proposed based on mutual‐structure for joint filtering and sparse representation in this article. First, the source image is decomposed into a series of detail images and coarse images by mutual‐structure for joint filtering. Second, sparse representation is adopted to fuse coarse images and then local contrast is applied for fusing detail images. Finally, the fused image is reconstructed by the addition of the fused coarse images and the fused detail images. By experimental results, the proposed method shows the best performance on preserving detail information and contrast information in the views of subjective and objective evaluations.     

Image speckle noise denoising by a multi-layer fusion enhancement method based on block matching and 3D filtering

In order to improve speckle noise denoising of block matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) method, an image frequency-domain multi-layer fusion enhancement method (MLFE-BM3D) based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) has been proposed. The method designs an NSCT hard threshold denoising enhancement to preprocess the image, then uses fusion enhancement in NSCT domain to fuse the preliminary estimation results of images before and after the NSCT hard threshold denoising, finally, BM3D denoising is carried out with the fused image to obtain the final denoising result. Experiments on natural images and medical ultrasound images show that MLFE-BM3D method can achieve better visual effects than BM3D method, the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of the denoised image is increased by 0.5?dB. The MLFE-BM3D method can improve the denoising effect of speckle noise in the texture region, and still maintain a good denoising effect in the smooth region of the image.     

判决引导和常数模融合盲均衡算法研究

结合判决引导（DD：Decision-Directed）算法和常数模算法（CMA：Constant Modulus Algorithm）的各自优点,研究了一种基于DD和CMA的融合盲均衡算法。DD算法收敛速度快,但要求初始接收信号眼图张开,CMA算法稳健,但是收敛速度慢,为此,对接收信号依DD算法和CMA算法获得瞬时误差后进行加权融合处理,以加权后获得的瞬时误差对均衡器权系数进行调节,实现均衡。计算机仿真证明了融合盲均衡算法有效提高收敛速度的同时具有良好的稳健性和均衡性能。     

基于多尺度均值排列熵和参数优化支持向量机的轴承故障诊断

针对滚动轴承故障诊断中特征提取困难和模式识别准确率低等问题,提出了一种基于多尺度均值排列熵(MMPE)和灰狼优化支持向量机(GWO-SVM)结合的故障诊断方法。利用MMPE全面表征滚动轴承故障特征信息,选取适当维数特征构成样本数据集,采用GWO-SVM分类器进行故障模式识别。对所提基于MMPE和GWO-SVM故障诊断方法进行理论分析和研究,并利用滚动轴承试验数据进行相应对比试验分析,结果表明:MMPE能够有效提取滚动轴承故障特征信息;GWO-SVM识别准确率和识别速度优于滚动轴承故障诊断其它常用参数优化支持向量机;所提方法能够有效识别滚动轴承故障位置和故障程度,在滚动轴承数据集上取得了98.0%的故障识别准确率,高于基于MPE和GWO-SVM方法的97.0%准确率,并且在噪声背景下取得了93.5%的识别准确率,优于后者83.0%准确率,证明了所提MMPE具有更好的噪声鲁棒性。     

Multimodal medical image fusion based on discrete Tchebichef moments and pulse coupled neural network

Multimodal medical image fusion plays a vital role in clinical diagnoses and treatment planning. In many image fusion methods‐based pulse coupled neural network (PCNN), normalized coefficients are used to motivate the PCNN, and this makes the fused image blur, detail loss, and decreases contrast. Moreover, they are limited in dealing with medical images with different modalities. In this article, we present a new multimodal medical image fusion method based on discrete Tchebichef moments and pulse coupled neural network to overcome the aforementioned problems. First, medical images are divided into equal‐size blocks and the Tchebichef moments are calculated to characterize image shape, and energy of blocks is computed as the sum of squared non‐DC moment values. Then to retain edges and textures, the energy of Tchebichef moments for blocks is introduced to motivate the PCNN with adaptive linking strength. Finally, large firing times are selected as coefficients of the fused image. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods and it is more effective in processing medical images with different modalities. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 27, 57–65, 2017     

Multimodal medical image fusion based on the spectral total variation and local structural patch measurement

Masses of research decompose the image into different levels of feature maps, but the structures and edges may not appropriately separated. This may cause the loss of image detail in the fusion process. Therefore, we design a robust method for multimodal medical image fusion using spectral total variation transform (STVT). In our method, the source images are first decomposed into a series of texture signatures (referred to as deviation components) and base components via STVT algorithm. Then combine the local structural patch measurement (LSPM) to fuse the deviation components, and the base components are merged using a spatial frequency (SF) dual‐channel spiking cortical model (SF‐DCSCM), in which the SF of base components are regarded as stimulus to activate DCSCM. Finally, the final image is reconstructed by the inverse STVT with the restored images together. Experimental results suggest that proposed scheme achieves promising results, and more competitiveness against some state‐of‐the‐art methods.