Real-time visible-infrared image fusion using multi-guided filter

Visible-infrared image fusion is a process of synthesizing an infrared image and a visible image into a fused image. This process synthesizes the complementary advantages of both images. The infrared image is able to capture a target object in dark or foggy environments. However, the utility of the infrared image is hindered by the blurry appearance of objects. On the other hand, the visible image clearly shows an object under normal lighting conditions, but it is not ideal in dark or foggy environments. In this paper, we propose a multi-guided filter and a real-time image fusion method. The proposed multi-guided filter is a modification of the guided filter for multiple guidance images. Using this filter, we propose a real-time image fusion method. The speed of the proposed fusion method is much faster than that of conventional image fusion methods. In an experiment, we compare the proposed method and the conventional methods in terms of quantity, quality, fusing speed, and flickering artifacts. The proposed method synthesizes 57.93 frames per second for an image size of 320 × 270. Based on our experiments, we confirmed that the proposed method is able to perform real-time processing. In addition, the proposed method synthesizes flicker-free video.