Image Matching Using Phase Correlation Method

The phase correlation method is a widely adopted approach for image matching. This technique precisely aligns images by graphically displaying the location of correlation coefficients. When implemented computationally, the algorithm typically involves: - Converting input images to frequency domain using 2D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) - Computing the cross-power spectrum between the transformed images - Applying inverse FFT to obtain the phase correlation matrix - Locating the peak coordinates in the correlation surface to determine translation parameters Compared to other registration methods, phase correlation demonstrates notable advantages: it maintains robustness against brightness variations through its frequency-domain processing, and produces sharp correlation peaks that enable sub-pixel accuracy in alignment. The implementation can utilize MATLAB's fft2() and ifft2() functions for efficient frequency domain operations, while peak detection algorithms like findpeaks() or custom thresholding methods identify the displacement vector. This combination of computational efficiency and precision makes phase correlation an exceptionally effective solution for image registration tasks.