METHOD FOR AUTONOMOUS DETERMINATION OF TIE POINTS IN IMAGERY

A method for selecting tie point locations within a series of overlapping images. Initially the series of images are ordered to maximize the potential for successful phase correlations between adjacent images. Adjacent pairs in the ordered images are then phase correlated to determine the translational offsets between adjacent pairs. The overlapping regions in adjacent pairs are assessed for normalized cross correlation and initial candidate tie points are selected within the regions at a reduced resolution. The initially selected tie points are then phase correlated at full resolution and any surviving candidate tie point locations are further refined to sub-pixel accuracy.