Pansharpening with a Guided Filter Based on Three-Layer Decomposition

State-of-the-art pansharpening methods generally inject the spatial structures of a high spatial resolution (HR) panchromatic (PAN) image into the corresponding low spatial resolution (LR) multispectral (MS) image by an injection model. In this paper, a novel pansharpening method with an edge-preserving guided filter based on three-layer decomposition is proposed. In the proposed method, the PAN image is decomposed into three layers: A strong edge layer, a detail layer, and a low-frequency layer. The edge layer and detail layer are then injected into the MS image by a proportional injection model. In addition, two new quantitative evaluation indices, including the modified correlation coefficient (MCC) and the modified universal image quality index (MUIQI) are developed. The proposed method was tested and verified by IKONOS, QuickBird, and Gaofen (GF)-1 satellite images, and it was compared with several of state-of-the-art pansharpening methods from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The experimental results confirm the superiority of the proposed method.