QGIS Use for IHS PAN-Sharpening Application to Landsat 8 OLI Images

IHS Pan-sharpening is one of the most performed approaches to transfer the higher resolution of panchromatic images to the multispectral ones of the same scene. It requires basic operations that can be easily carried out using GIS software also in absence of specific tools for Pan-sharpening. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the steps to be realized in QGIS, a free and open source software that permits to operate with raster files, to implement IHS Pan-sharpening method. Particularly Map Algebra functions are applied using raster calculator: to facilitate the user approach the adopted formulas are included in a single process according to a workflow. Landsat 8 OLI (L8 OLI) images concerning Campania Region (Italy) are processed so to reduce pixel dimensions of visible multispectral bands from 30 m to 15 m and produce RGB composition with higher spatial resolution. The quality of the results is tested using appropriate indices such as ERGAS (Erreur Relative Globale Adimensionnelle de Synthèse) and UIQI (Universal Image Quality Index), both calculated using QGIS tools.