diff --git a/ashlar/reg.py b/ashlar/reg.py
index 718085f9..a2e57047 100644
--- a/ashlar/reg.py
+++ b/ashlar/reg.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import skimage.util
 import skimage.util.dtype
 import skimage.io
+import skimage.filters
 import skimage.exposure
 import skimage.transform
 import sklearn.linear_model
@@ -455,7 +456,8 @@ class EdgeAligner(object):
 
     def __init__(
         self, reader, channel=0, max_shift=15, false_positive_ratio=0.01,
-        randomize=False, filter_sigma=0.0, do_make_thumbnail=True, verbose=False
+        randomize=False, filter_sigma=0.0, add_noise=False,
+        do_make_thumbnail=True, verbose=False
     ):
         self.channel = channel
         self.reader = CachingReader(reader, self.channel)
@@ -466,6 +468,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.false_positive_ratio = false_positive_ratio
         self.randomize = randomize
         self.filter_sigma = filter_sigma
+        self.add_noise=add_noise
         self.do_make_thumbnail = do_make_thumbnail
         self._cache = {}
 
@@ -474,6 +477,8 @@ def __init__(
     def run(self):
         self.make_thumbnail()
         self.check_overlaps()
+        self.find_permutation_pairs()
+        self.compute_edge_amplitude()
         self.compute_threshold()
         self.register_all()
         self.build_spanning_tree()
@@ -502,11 +507,7 @@ def check_overlaps(self):
         elif any(failures):
             warn_data("Some neighboring tiles have zero overlap.")
 
-    def compute_threshold(self):
-        # Compute error threshold for rejecting aligments. We generate a
-        # distribution of error scores for many known non-overlapping image
-        # regions and take a certain percentile as the maximum allowable error.
-        # The percentile becomes our accepted false-positive ratio.
+    def find_permutation_pairs(self):
         edges = self.neighbors_graph.edges
         num_tiles = self.metadata.num_images
         # If not enough tiles overlap to matter, skip this whole thing.
@@ -518,7 +519,8 @@ def compute_threshold(self):
             self.intersection(t1, t2).shape.min()
             for t1, t2 in edges
         ])
-        w = widths.max()
+        self.permutation_width = widths.max()
+        w = self.permutation_width
         max_offset = self.metadata.size[0] - w
         # Number of possible pairs minus number of actual neighbor pairs.
         num_distant_pairs = num_tiles * (num_tiles - 1) // 2 - len(edges)
@@ -526,8 +528,9 @@ def compute_threshold(self):
         # possible truly distinct strips with fewer tiles. The calculation here
         # is just a heuristic, not rigorously derived.
         n = 1000 if num_distant_pairs > 8 else (num_distant_pairs + 1) * 10
-        pairs = np.empty((n, 2), dtype=int)
-        offsets = np.empty((n, 2), dtype=int)
+
+        self.permutation_pairs = np.empty((n, 2), dtype=int)
+        self.permutation_offsets = np.empty((n, 2), dtype=int)
         # Generate n random non-overlapping image strips. Strips are always
         # horizontal, across the entire image width.
         max_tries = 100
@@ -561,10 +564,49 @@ def compute_threshold(self):
             else:
                 # Retries exhausted. This should be very rare.
                 warn_data(
-                    "Could not find non-overlapping strips in {max_tries} tries"
+                    f"Could not find non-overlapping strips in {max_tries} tries"
                 )
-            pairs[i] = t1, t2
-            offsets[i] = o1, o2
+            self.permutation_pairs[i] = t1, t2
+            self.permutation_offsets[i] = o1, o2
+
+    def compute_edge_amplitude(self):
+        # When the edge amplitudes (Frobenius norm of the laplacian/LoG filtered
+        # image) in the overlapping pairs are low, our registration will yield
+        # low errors, which, in general, are not "correct". Here we compute edge
+        # amplitudes of all the permutation tiles. And find the minimum edge
+        # amplitude needed to generate confident registration error.
+        if not self.add_noise:
+            self.min_edge_amplitude = 0
+            return 
+        pairs = self.permutation_pairs
+        offsets = self.permutation_offsets
+        w = self.permutation_width
+        n = len(self.permutation_pairs) * 2
+        edge_amplitudes = np.empty(n)
+        for i, (t, o) in enumerate(zip(pairs.flatten(), offsets.flatten())):
+            if self.verbose and (i % 10 == 9 or i == n - 1):
+                sys.stdout.write(
+                    '\r    quantifying edge amplitude %d/%d' % (i + 1, n)
+                )
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+            img = self.reader.read(t, self.channel)[o:o+w, :]
+            edge_amplitudes[i] = utils.edge_amplitude(img, self.filter_sigma)
+        if self.verbose: print()
+        self.edge_amplitudes = edge_amplitudes
+        # Triangle threshold seems to work in our limited tests
+        self.min_edge_amplitude = skimage.filters.threshold_triangle(
+            self.edge_amplitudes
+        )
+
+    def compute_threshold(self):
+        # Compute error threshold for rejecting aligments. We generate a
+        # distribution of error scores for many known non-overlapping image
+        # regions and take a certain percentile as the maximum allowable error.
+        # The percentile becomes our accepted false-positive ratio.
+        pairs = self.permutation_pairs
+        offsets = self.permutation_offsets
+        w = self.permutation_width
+        n = len(self.permutation_pairs)
         errors = np.empty(n)
         for i, ((t1, t2), (offset1, offset2)) in enumerate(zip(pairs, offsets)):
             if self.verbose and (i % 10 == 9 or i == n - 1):
@@ -574,7 +616,10 @@ def compute_threshold(self):
                 sys.stdout.flush()
             img1 = self.reader.read(t1, self.channel)[offset1:offset1+w, :]
             img2 = self.reader.read(t2, self.channel)[offset2:offset2+w, :]
-            _, errors[i] = utils.register(img1, img2, self.filter_sigma, upsample=1)
+            _, errors[i] = utils.register(
+                img1, img2, self.filter_sigma,
+                upsample=1, noise_factor=self.min_edge_amplitude
+            )
         if self.verbose:
             print()
         self.errors_negative_sampled = errors
@@ -687,7 +732,7 @@ def register_pair(self, t1, t2):
             # metric on these images. This should be even lower than the error
             # computed above.
             _, o1, o2 = self.overlap(key[0], key[1], shift=shift)
-            error = utils.nccw(o1, o2, self.filter_sigma)
+            error = utils.nccw(o1, o2, self.filter_sigma, self.min_edge_amplitude)
             self._cache[key] = (shift, error)
         if t1 > t2:
             shift = -shift
@@ -702,7 +747,9 @@ def _register(self, t1, t2, min_size=0):
         sx = 1 if p1[1] >= p2[1] else -1
         sy = 1 if p1[0] >= p2[0] else -1
         padding = its.padding * [sy, sx]
-        shift, error = utils.register(img1, img2, self.filter_sigma)
+        shift, error = utils.register(
+            img1, img2, self.filter_sigma, noise_factor=self.min_edge_amplitude
+        )
         shift += padding
         return shift, error
 
diff --git a/ashlar/scripts/ashlar.py b/ashlar/scripts/ashlar.py
index 80975442..9d7065bc 100644
--- a/ashlar/scripts/ashlar.py
+++ b/ashlar/scripts/ashlar.py
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ def main(argv=sys.argv):
         '-m', '--maximum-shift', type=float, default=15, metavar='SHIFT',
         help='maximum allowed per-tile corrective shift in microns'
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '--add-noise', default=False, action='store_true',
+        help=('add noise during stitching')
+    )
     parser.add_argument(
         '--filter-sigma', type=float, default=0.0, metavar='SIGMA',
         help=('width in pixels of Gaussian filter to apply to images before'
@@ -157,6 +161,7 @@ def main(argv=sys.argv):
     aligner_args['channel'] = args.align_channel
     aligner_args['verbose'] = not args.quiet
     aligner_args['max_shift'] = args.maximum_shift
+    aligner_args['add_noise'] = args.add_noise
     aligner_args['filter_sigma'] = args.filter_sigma
 
     mosaic_args = {}
@@ -212,6 +217,7 @@ def process_single(
     reader = build_reader(filepaths[0], plate_well=plate_well)
     process_axis_flip(reader, flip_x, flip_y)
     ea_args = aligner_args.copy()
+    del aligner_args['add_noise']
     if len(filepaths) == 1:
         ea_args['do_make_thumbnail'] = False
     edge_aligner = reg.EdgeAligner(reader, **ea_args)
diff --git a/ashlar/test_apply_noise.py b/ashlar/test_apply_noise.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0614a191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ashlar/test_apply_noise.py
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+import numpy as np
+from ashlar import utils
+import skimage.data
+import skimage.filters
+import skimage.transform
+
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import tqdm
+
+def blob_noise(fraction, noise_sd=0, blob_img_seed=None):
+    blob_base = skimage.data.binary_blobs(
+        100,
+        blob_size_fraction=5/100,
+        volume_fraction=fraction/(100*100),
+        seed=blob_img_seed
+    ).astype(float)
+    rgn = np.random.default_rng()
+    noise = rgn.normal(0, noise_sd, 100*100).reshape(100, 100)
+    return blob_base + noise
+
+# radial distortion
+def radial_distort(xy, warp_center, k1=0.01, k2=0.002):
+    assert warp_center in ['left', 'center', 'right']
+    half = xy.mean(axis=0)
+    if warp_center == 'right':
+        center = [0, half[1]]
+    elif warp_center == 'center':
+        center = half
+    elif warp_center == 'left':
+        center = [2*half[0], half[1]]
+    xy -= center
+    xy /= half
+    r = np.linalg.norm(xy, axis=1)
+    m_r = 1 + k1*r + k2*r**2
+    xy /= m_r.reshape(-1, 1)
+    return xy * half + center
+
+
+# test_range = np.linspace(0, 100*100, 1000)
+
+# simulates two modes, one mode contains very few objects in overlapping blocks
+# and accounts for 30% of total overlaps, rest of the overlaps has good quality
+# for phase correlation
+test_range = np.sort([
+    *np.random.default_rng().normal(5, 10, 300),
+    *np.random.default_rng().normal(100, 20, 700)
+])
+test_range = test_range[test_range > 0]
+
+
+# testing and visualizatino function
+# left panels shows results from original approach (w/o adding noise to
+# laplacian filtered image) while gaussian noise is added to ALL the laplacian
+# filtered image in the right panels
+
+# the 1-percentile error cutoff tends to fail when the image has little noise
+# (when `NOISE_SD` is low) or/and the distortion is significant (`K2` is high)
+def plot_tests(
+    test_range,
+    SIGMA=1,
+    NOISE_SD=0.005,
+    K1=0.01,
+    K2=0.002
+):
+
+    permutation_errors = np.empty(test_range.shape)
+    edge_amplitudes = np.empty((*test_range.shape, 2))
+
+    for idx, i in enumerate(tqdm.tqdm(test_range, desc='Computing edge amp', ascii=True)):
+        # find edge amplitude threshold using "non-overlapping" blocks
+        img1 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD)
+        img2 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD)
+        permutation_errors[idx] = utils.register(img1, img2, SIGMA, upsample=1)[1]
+        edge_amplitudes[idx] = [
+            utils.edge_amplitude(img1, SIGMA),
+            utils.edge_amplitude(img2, SIGMA)
+        ]
+        
+    noise_factor = skimage.filters.threshold_triangle(edge_amplitudes)
+
+    permutation_errors_noise = np.empty(test_range.shape)
+    for idx, i in enumerate(tqdm.tqdm(test_range, desc='Computing errors', ascii=True)):
+        # calculate permutation errors w/ and w/o added noise
+        img1 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD)
+        img2 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD)
+        permutation_errors_noise[idx] = utils.register(
+            img1, img2, SIGMA,
+            upsample=1, noise_factor=noise_factor
+        )[1]
+
+
+    errors = np.empty(test_range.shape)
+    shifts = np.empty((*test_range.shape, 2))
+
+    errors_noise = np.empty(test_range.shape)
+    shifts_noise = np.empty((*test_range.shape, 2))
+
+    for idx, i in enumerate(tqdm.tqdm(test_range, desc='Registering imgs', ascii=True)):
+        # synthesize "overlapping blocks" and add gaussian noise and barrel
+        # distortion
+        img1 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD, blob_img_seed=1001)
+        img2 = blob_noise(i, noise_sd=NOISE_SD, blob_img_seed=1001)
+        img1 = skimage.transform.warp(
+            img1, radial_distort, map_args=dict(warp_center='left', k1=K1, k2=K2)
+        )
+        img2 = skimage.transform.warp(
+            img2, radial_distort, map_args=dict(warp_center='right', k1=K1, k2=K2)
+        )
+
+        shifts[idx], errors[idx] = utils.register(img1, img2, SIGMA, upsample=1)
+        shifts_noise[idx], errors_noise[idx] = utils.register(
+            img1, img2, SIGMA,
+            upsample=1, noise_factor=noise_factor
+        )
+
+    passed = errors < np.percentile(permutation_errors, 1)
+    passed_noise = errors_noise < np.percentile(permutation_errors_noise, 1)
+
+    fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 2, sharex=True, sharey=False)
+    fig.suptitle(f'SIGMA={SIGMA}, NOISE_SD={NOISE_SD}, K1={K1}, K2={K2}')
+
+    kwargs = dict(linewidths=0, s=8, alpha=0.5)
+    axs[0][0].set_title('error w/o noise')
+    axs[0][0].scatter(test_range, permutation_errors, c='#666666', **kwargs)
+    axs[0][0].scatter(test_range, errors, c=passed, cmap='PiYG', **kwargs)
+    axs[0][0].axhline(np.percentile(permutation_errors, 1), c='k', lw=1)
+    axs[0][1].set_title('error w/ noise')
+    axs[0][1].scatter(test_range, permutation_errors_noise, c='#666666', **kwargs)
+    axs[0][1].scatter(test_range, errors_noise, c=passed_noise, cmap='PiYG', **kwargs)
+    axs[0][1].axhline(np.percentile(permutation_errors_noise, 1), c='k', lw=1)
+
+    axs[1][0].set_title('shift distance w/o noise')
+    axs[1][0].scatter(test_range, np.linalg.norm(shifts, axis=1), c=passed, cmap='PiYG', **kwargs)
+    axs[1][1].set_title('shift distance w/ noise')
+    axs[1][1].scatter(test_range, np.linalg.norm(shifts_noise, axis=1), c=passed_noise, cmap='PiYG', **kwargs)
diff --git a/ashlar/utils.py b/ashlar/utils.py
index 7372ef32..db1b1a37 100644
--- a/ashlar/utils.py
+++ b/ashlar/utils.py
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 # Pre-calculate the Laplacian operator kernel. We'll always be using 2D images.
 _laplace_kernel = skimage.restoration.uft.laplacian(2, (3, 3))[1]
 
+# Fix random state for random noise generator
+_noise_rgn = np.random.default_rng(0)
+
 def whiten(img, sigma):
     img = skimage.img_as_float32(img)
     if sigma == 0:
@@ -23,9 +26,27 @@ def whiten(img, sigma):
     return output
 
 
-def register(img1, img2, sigma, upsample=10):
+def edge_amplitude(img, sigma):
+    return np.linalg.norm(
+        whiten(img, sigma)
+    )
+
+
+def add_noise(img, noise_factor):
+    noise = _noise_rgn.normal(0, 0.1, img.shape)
+    noise /= np.linalg.norm(noise)
+    noise *= noise_factor
+    return img + noise
+
+
+def register(img1, img2, sigma, upsample=10, noise_factor=0):
     img1w = whiten(img1, sigma)
     img2w = whiten(img2, sigma)
+    
+    if noise_factor != 0:
+        img1w = add_noise(img1w, noise_factor)
+        img2w = add_noise(img2w, noise_factor)
+
     img1_f = scipy.fft.fft2(img1w)
     img2_f = scipy.fft.fft2(img2w)
     shift, _error, _phasediff = skimage.feature.register_translation(
@@ -53,9 +74,14 @@ def register(img1, img2, sigma, upsample=10):
     return shift, error
 
 
-def nccw(img1, img2, sigma):
+def nccw(img1, img2, sigma, noise_factor=0):
     img1w = whiten(img1, sigma)
     img2w = whiten(img2, sigma)
+    
+    if noise_factor != 0:
+        img1w = add_noise(img1w, noise_factor)
+        img2w = add_noise(img2w, noise_factor)
+
     correlation = np.abs(np.sum(img1w * img2w))
     total_amplitude = np.linalg.norm(img1w) * np.linalg.norm(img2w)
     if correlation > 0 and total_amplitude > 0: