SYNTHESIS OF IMAGERY WITH HIGH SPATIAL AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION FROM MULTIPLE IMAGE SOURCES

We demonstrate how a realistic scene with high spatial and spectral re solution can be synthesized from color aerial photography and AVIRIS h yperspectral imagery. A review of techniques for image fusion is first presented. Image processing techniques were developed to extract a di gital elevation model from stereo aerial photography in order to corre ct temporal shading differences between two image sets and to fuse aer ial photography with AVIRIS imagery. A unique contribution is the expl icit inclusion of corrections for topography and differing solar angle s in the fusion process. Color infrared photography and an AVIRIS imag e from a site near Cuprite, Nevada, were used as a test of an improved high-frequency modulation (HFM) technique for the creation of hybrid images. Comparison of spectra extracted from the synthesized image wit h library spectra demonstrated that our methodology successfully prese rved the spectral signatures of the ground surface.