Phase correlation pixel-to-pixel image co-registration based on optical flow and median shift propagation

With singular value decomposition (SVD) and robust 2-dimensional fitting phase correlation algorithms, it is possible to achieve pixel-to-pixel image co-registration at sub-pixel accuracy via local feature matching. However, the method often fails in featureless and low correlation areas making it not robust for co-registration of images with considerable spectral differences and large featureless ground objects. A median shift propagation (MSP) technique is proposed to eliminate the problem, in a phase correlation and Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC) combined approach. The experiment results using images from different sensor platforms and spectral bands indicate that the new method is very robust to featureless and low correlation areas and can achieve very accurate pixel-to-pixel image co-registration with good tolerance of spectral and spatial differences between images. The method will significantly improve change detection in various remote sensing applications.