Color image registration based on quaternion Fourier transformation

The traditional Fourier Mellin transform is applied to quaternion algebra in order to investigate quaternion Fourier transformation properties useful for color image registration in frequency domain. Combining with the quaternion phase correlation, we propose a method for color image registration based on the quaternion Fourier transform. The registration method, which processes color image in a holistic manner, is convenient to realign color images differing in translation, rotation, and scaling. Experimental results on different types of color images indicate that the proposed method not only obtains high accuracy in similarity transform in the image plane but also is computationally efficient. (C) 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.51.5.057002]