Image fusion using non-separable wavelet frame

In this paper, an image fusion method is proposed based on the non-separable wavelet frame (NWF) for merging a high-resolution panchromatic image and a low-resolution multispectral image. The low-frequency part of the panchromatic image is directly substituted by multispectral image. As a result, the multispectral information of the multispectral image can be preserved effectively in the fused image. Due to multiscale method for enhancing the high-frequency parts of the panchromatic image, spatial information of the fused image can be improved. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transform, discrete wavelet transform and separable wavelet frame in preserving spectral and spatial information.