Infrared and visible image fusion: A survey of Current Research Status

The purpose of image fusion is to extract the most useful features from source images of different modalities and integrate them into a single image, facilitating subsequent task processing. Therefore, image fusion is a hot research field. In multi-modal image fusion, the fusion task of infrared images and visible images has many advantages. Infrared images can utilize radiation differences to distinguish between targets and backgrounds, and they can work well under both day and night conditions. In contrast, visible images are more consistent with human visual habits and have clear texture details. Therefore, it is necessary to fuse these two types of images together, which can combine the advantages of thermal radiation information in infrared images and detailed texture information in visible images. This paper reviews the latest research progress and application areas of image fusion technology. Firstly, the basic concept of image fusion is introduced, and the importance and application prospects of image fusion in multiple fields are outlined. Then, the basic principles and commonly used methods of image fusion are discussed in detail. A summary and comparison of performance evaluation methods for image fusion technology are provided, and the future development trends of image fusion technology are prospected, emphasizing research directions such as image fusion in complex environments under deep learning and real-time system design.