Fast SIFT image stitching algorithm combining edge detection

In order to accurately register and stitch the sequence images of the inner wall of the barrel, and get a image with high field of view and high resolution, a fast SIFT image stitching method with edge detection according to the characteristics of the overlap region of the images was proposed. It took full account of the characteristics of the images and could quickly segment the sub-region that possessed the most abundant anomalous information by detecting the edge of the region of interest. Then, it extracted SIFT feature points of the sub-region and matched them accurately by RANSAC. After that, a novel fusion method based on the weight of Sigmoid function weight was used to realize the seamless fusion between sequence images. This method can maximize the clarity of the fused image and the integrity of the detailed information. Experimental results show that the improved algorithm is much less time-consuming than that of traditional SIFT algorithm. Its computational efficiency has improved about 80% in feature points extraction process and the efficiency of the whole registration process has been also improved. The subjective evaluation and the various objective evaluation values of the fusion results by this fusion method are superior to other fusion methods.