Parametric estimation of affine deformations of binary images

We consider the problem of planar object registration on binary images where the aligning transformation is restricted to the group of affine transformations. Previous approaches usually require established correspondences or the solution of nonlinear optimization problems. Herein we show that it is possible to formulate the problem as the solution of a system of up to third order polynomial equations. These equations are constructed in a simple way using some basic geometric information of binary images. It does not need established correspondences nor the solution of complex optimization problems. The resulting algorithm is fast and provides a direct solution regardless of the magnitude of transformation.