Method and system for image registration and change detection

A computerized method of detecting changes in a target area by comparing an input test image to at least one reference image comprising:

• dividing the test image into many overlapping test subimages;
• defining a search area in the at least one reference image;
• extracting reference subimages located entirely within the search area from the at least one reference image and converting the reference subimages and the test subimages to reference subimages vector and test subimage vector by stacking columns of the subimages
• deriving a sparse representation of the test subimage vector utilizing a sparse linear combination of reference subimage vectors;
• computing a residual representation error defined as a absolute different between the test subimage and the sparse representation;
• and
• constructing a change detection image based upon the residual representation error.

A method, executed by a computing device, of performing change detection of images, said method comprising:

• providing a test image and a reference image;
• setting change detection parameters by:
• setting a test subimage size to M×N, where M is a first numeric value along a down-range dimension and N is a second numeric value along a cross-range dimension;
• setting a desired sparsity level to a numeric value between 0.02MN and 0.05MN;
• setting a search window size to (M+ΔM)×(N+ΔN), where ΔM is a first added numeric value that is added to said first numeric value and ΔN is a second added numeric value that is added to said second numeric value;
• selecting a different test subimage to cover another portion of the target area;
• processing each said different test subimage by:
• constructing a local dictionary from said reference image;
• computing a sparse representation of the test subimage from the local dictionary;
• computing a residual representation error between the test subimage and the corresponding representation;
• and
• outputting a change detection image to detect any change between said test image and said reference image.