The image registration systems and methods according to this invention
register reflectance and fluorescence hyperspectral imagery and provide
the spatial image transformation between the reflectance and fluorescence
hyperspectral imagery. A reflectance image is embedded into the
fluorescence hyperspectral imagery and thereby resolves the resemblance
problem of reflectance and fluorescence hyperspectral imagery. The
reflectance image is embedded into the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery
using (1) light from a narrow-band source embedded in Ultraviolet (UV)
excitation light, (2) second order diffracted light, and/or (3)
Ultraviolet (UV) excitation light reflectance. Resembling reflectance
images are calculated from the reflectance hyperspectral imagery and the
embedded reflectance image in the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery. The
two respective reflectance images are pre-processed to maximize the
resemblance between them. Image registration algorithms use the two
pre-processed reflectance images and calculate the spatial image
transformation that allows to map the spatial coordinates from the
reflectance to the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery (and vice versa).