ABSTRACT
The joint use of imagery and spatial data from different imaging, mapping, or other spatial sensors has the potential to provide significant performance improvements over single sensor detection, classification, and situation assessment functions. The terms
imagery fusion
and
spatial data fusion
have been applied to describe a variety of combining operations for a wide range of image enhancement and understanding applications. Surveillance, robotic machine vision, and automatic target cueing are among the application areas that have explored the potential benefits of multiple sensor imagery. This chapter provides a framework for defining and describing the functions of image data fusion in the context of the Joint Directors of Laboratories (JDL) data fusion model. The chapter also describes representative methods and applications.
