Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, Volume. 61, Issue 18, 1837014(2024)

Low-Light Image Stitching Method Based on Improved SURF

Yu Ji1,2, Peng Ding2, Nan Liu2, Zhanqiang Ru2, Zhenyao Li2, Suzhen Cheng1,2, Zhengguang Wang1,2, Jingwu Gong1,2, Zhizhen Yin2, Fei Wu2, and Helun Song1,2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui,China
  • 2Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, China
  • show less

    Low-light image stitching is a technique that enables the stitching of images taken from different perspectives into a large field-of-view image under insufficient lighting conditions. The low contrast and high noise of images caused by inadequate lighting compromise the robustness and quantity of feature extraction, making feature matching and image stitching challenging. In response, this study proposes a low-light image stitching method based on an improved speeded-up robust feature (SURF) algorithm. In this method, a scale space was constructed first using the integral image of low-light images and Laplacian operations were performed, followed by edge extraction and binarization of the images. Further, the edges-in-shaded-region (ESR) image was generated based on the edge-extracted and binarized images to obtain scale weights, thereby dynamically adjusting the SURF feature extraction threshold. This effectively resolves the issue of mismatch between feature point pixel thresholds and overall image brightness, enhancing the robustness of the feature extraction algorithm. Additionally, the obtained scale weights can serve as weighting coefficients for the multiscale Retinex algorithm to achieve better image enhancement effects. In this method, binary descriptors were employed to accelerate the feature description and matching process. Finally, a homography matrix was calculated based on matching relationships to perform homography transformation and stitching of the enhanced images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm effectively improves the speed and performance of low-light image stitching, offering better robustness and adaptability compared with the traditional SURF algorithm.

    Keywords
    Tools

    Get Citation

    Copy Citation Text

    Yu Ji, Peng Ding, Nan Liu, Zhanqiang Ru, Zhenyao Li, Suzhen Cheng, Zhengguang Wang, Jingwu Gong, Zhizhen Yin, Fei Wu, Helun Song. Low-Light Image Stitching Method Based on Improved SURF[J]. Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, 2024, 61(18): 1837014

    Download Citation

    EndNote(RIS)BibTexPlain Text
    Save article for my favorites
    Paper Information

    Category: Digital Image Processing

    Received: Jan. 8, 2024

    Accepted: Feb. 18, 2024

    Published Online: Sep. 14, 2024

    The Author Email: Helun Song (hlsong2008@sinano.ac.cn)

    DOI:10.3788/LOP240470

    CSTR:32186.14.LOP240470

    Topics