Feature-Based Image Fusion with a Uniform Discrete Curvelet Transform

The uniform discrete curvelet transform (UDCT) is a novel tool for multiscale representations with several desirable properties compared to previous representation methods. A novel algorithm based on UDCT is proposed for the fusion of multi‐source images. A novel fusion rule for different subband coefficients obtained by UDCT decomposition is discussed in detail. Low‐pass subband coefficients are merged to develop a fusion rule based on a feature similarity (FSIM) index. High‐pass directional subband coefficients are merged for a fusion rule based on a complex coefficients feature similarity (CCFSIM) index. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm fuses all of the useful information from source images without introducing artefacts. Compared with several state‐of‐the‐art fusion methods, it yields a better performance and achieves higher efficiency.