Synthesis of imagery with high spatial and spectral resolution from multiple image sources

We demonstrate how a realistic scene with high spatial and spectral resolution can be synthesized from color aerial photography and AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery. A review of techniques for image fusion is first presented. Image processing techniques were developed to extract a digital elevation model from stereo aerial photography in order to correct temporal shading differences between two image sets and to fuse aerial photography with AVIRIS imagery. A unique contribution is the explicit inclusion of corrections for topography and differing solar angles in the fusion process. Color infrared photography and an AVIRIS image 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 with library spectra demonstrated that our methodology successfully preserved the spectral signatures of the ground surface.