Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation

Abstract Addressing the issues of long processing time, high computational complexity, and poor stitching quality in existing methods for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial image stitching, this paper proposes an aerial image stitching method based on similar region estimation. Firstly, the input...

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Main Authors: Zhiyou Lian, Jianhua Ren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Engineering and Applied Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-025-00590-3
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author Zhiyou Lian
Jianhua Ren
author_facet Zhiyou Lian
Jianhua Ren
author_sort Zhiyou Lian
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Addressing the issues of long processing time, high computational complexity, and poor stitching quality in existing methods for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial image stitching, this paper proposes an aerial image stitching method based on similar region estimation. Firstly, the input set of UAV aerial images is subjected to superpixel segmentation to estimate similar regions among the images. Secondly, an improved SIFT algorithm is used to extract and match feature points within the similar regions across the image set. Finally, based on the obtained matching points, an improved optimal seam-line algorithm and a weighted average fusion algorithm are employed to fuse the images, resulting in the stitched aerial image. Experimental validation using the public dataset UAV-image-mosaicing dataset demonstrates that our method achieves nearly double the speed of feature extraction compared to traditional feature extraction algorithms and triples the feature matching rate. Furthermore, compared to mainstream UAV aerial image stitching methods, our approach reduces time consumption by half while improving the stitching image evaluation metrics of SSIM, MAE, and PSNR by approximately 5% on average.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1110-1903
2536-9512
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher SpringerOpen
record_format Article
series Journal of Engineering and Applied Science
spelling doaj-art-c80fd4815f204b2b8a390c67ecee59ee2025-02-02T12:26:05ZengSpringerOpenJournal of Engineering and Applied Science1110-19032536-95122025-02-0172112010.1186/s44147-025-00590-3Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentationZhiyou Lian0Jianhua Ren1School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Liaoning Technical UniversitySchool of Electronics and Information Engineering, Liaoning Technical UniversityAbstract Addressing the issues of long processing time, high computational complexity, and poor stitching quality in existing methods for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial image stitching, this paper proposes an aerial image stitching method based on similar region estimation. Firstly, the input set of UAV aerial images is subjected to superpixel segmentation to estimate similar regions among the images. Secondly, an improved SIFT algorithm is used to extract and match feature points within the similar regions across the image set. Finally, based on the obtained matching points, an improved optimal seam-line algorithm and a weighted average fusion algorithm are employed to fuse the images, resulting in the stitched aerial image. Experimental validation using the public dataset UAV-image-mosaicing dataset demonstrates that our method achieves nearly double the speed of feature extraction compared to traditional feature extraction algorithms and triples the feature matching rate. Furthermore, compared to mainstream UAV aerial image stitching methods, our approach reduces time consumption by half while improving the stitching image evaluation metrics of SSIM, MAE, and PSNR by approximately 5% on average.https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-025-00590-3Superpixel segmentationUAVImage stitchingSIFT algorithmOverlapping area estimation
spellingShingle Zhiyou Lian
Jianhua Ren
Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
Journal of Engineering and Applied Science
Superpixel segmentation
UAV
Image stitching
SIFT algorithm
Overlapping area estimation
title Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
title_full Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
title_fullStr Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
title_full_unstemmed Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
title_short Unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
title_sort unmanned aerial vehicle aerial image stitching method based on superpixel segmentation
topic Superpixel segmentation
UAV
Image stitching
SIFT algorithm
Overlapping area estimation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-025-00590-3
work_keys_str_mv AT zhiyoulian unmannedaerialvehicleaerialimagestitchingmethodbasedonsuperpixelsegmentation
AT jianhuaren unmannedaerialvehicleaerialimagestitchingmethodbasedonsuperpixelsegmentation