Image enhancement with intensity transformation on embedding space

In recent times,an image enhancement approach,which learns the global transformation function using deep neural networks,has gained attention.However,many existing methods based on this approach have a limitation:their transformation functions are too simple to imitate complex colour transformations between low-quality images and manually retouched high-quality images.In order to address this limitation,a simple yet effective approach for image enhancement is proposed.The proposed algorithm based on the channel-wise intensity transformation is designed.However,this transformation is applied to the learnt embedding space instead of specific colour spaces and then return enhanced features to colours.To this end,the authors define the continuous intensity transformation(CIT)to describe the mapping between input and output intensities on the embedding space.Then,the enhancement network is developed,which produces multi-scale feature maps from input images,derives the set of transformation functions,and performs the CIT to obtain enhanced images.Extensive experiments on the MIT-Adobe 5K dataset demonstrate that the authors’approach improves the performance of conventional intensity transforms on colour space metrics.Specifically,the authors achieved a 3.8%improvement in peak signal-to-noise ratio,a 1.8%improvement in structual similarity index measure,and a 27.5%improvement in learned perceptual image patch similarity.Also,the authors’algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives on three image enhancement datasets:MIT-Adobe 5K,Low-Light,and Google HDRþ.

Unsupervised Multi-Expert Learning Model for Underwater Image Enhancement

Underwater image enhancement aims to restore a clean appearance and thus improves the quality of underwater degraded images.Current methods feed the whole image directly into the model for enhancement.However,they ignored that the R,G and B channels of underwater degraded images present varied degrees of degradation,due to the selective absorption for the light.To address this issue,we propose an unsupervised multi-expert learning model by considering the enhancement of each color channel.Specifically,an unsupervised architecture based on generative adversarial network is employed to alleviate the need for paired underwater images.Based on this,we design a generator,including a multi-expert encoder,a feature fusion module and a feature fusion-guided decoder,to generate the clear underwater image.Accordingly,a multi-expert discriminator is proposed to verify the authenticity of the R,G and B channels,respectively.In addition,content perceptual loss and edge loss are introduced into the loss function to further improve the content and details of the enhanced images.Extensive experiments on public datasets demonstrate that our method achieves more pleasing results in vision quality.Various metrics(PSNR,SSIM,UIQM and UCIQE) evaluated on our enhanced images have been improved obviously.

More Than Lightening:A Self-Supervised Low-Light Image Enhancement Method Capable for Multiple Degradations

Low-light images suffer from low quality due to poor lighting conditions,noise pollution,and improper settings of cameras.To enhance low-light images,most existing methods rely on normal-light images for guidance but the collection of suitable normal-light images is difficult.In contrast,a self-supervised method breaks free from the reliance on normal-light data,resulting in more convenience and better generalization.Existing self-supervised methods primarily focus on illumination adjustment and design pixel-based adjustment methods,resulting in remnants of other degradations,uneven brightness and artifacts.In response,this paper proposes a self-supervised enhancement method,termed as SLIE.It can handle multiple degradations including illumination attenuation,noise pollution,and color shift,all in a self-supervised manner.Illumination attenuation is estimated based on physical principles and local neighborhood information.The removal and correction of noise and color shift removal are solely realized with noisy images and images with color shifts.Finally,the comprehensive and fully self-supervised approach can achieve better adaptability and generalization.It is applicable to various low light conditions,and can reproduce the original color of scenes in natural light.Extensive experiments conducted on four public datasets demonstrate the superiority of SLIE to thirteen state-of-the-art methods.Our code is available at https://github.com/hanna-xu/SLIE.

A Modified CycleGAN for Multi-Organ Ultrasound Image Enhancement via Unpaired Pre-Training

Handheld ultrasound devices are known for their portability and affordability,making them widely utilized in underdeveloped areas and community healthcare for rapid diagnosis and early screening.However,the image quality of handheld ultrasound devices is not always satisfactory due to the limited equipment size,which hinders accurate diagnoses by doctors.At the same time,paired ultrasound images are difficult to obtain from the clinic because imaging process is complicated.Therefore,we propose a modified cycle generative adversarial network(cycleGAN) for ultrasound image enhancement from multiple organs via unpaired pre-training.We introduce an ultrasound image pre-training method that does not require paired images,alleviating the requirement for large-scale paired datasets.We also propose an enhanced block with different structures in the pre-training and fine-tuning phases,which can help achieve the goals of different training phases.To improve the robustness of the model,we add Gaussian noise to the training images as data augmentation.Our approach is effective in obtaining the best quantitative evaluation results using a small number of parameters and less training costs to improve the quality of handheld ultrasound devices.

A Novel Multi-Stream Fusion Network for Underwater Image Enhancement

Due to the selective absorption of light and the existence of a large number of floating media in sea water, underwater images often suffer from color casts and detail blurs. It is therefore necessary to perform color correction and detail restoration. However,the existing enhancement algorithms cannot achieve the desired results. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a multi-stream feature fusion network. First, an underwater image is preprocessed to obtain potential information from the illumination stream, color stream and structure stream by histogram equalization with contrast limitation, gamma correction and white balance, respectively. Next, these three streams and the original raw stream are sent to the residual blocks to extract the features. The features will be subsequently fused. It can enhance feature representation in underwater images. In the meantime, a composite loss function including three terms is used to ensure the quality of the enhanced image from the three aspects of color balance, structure preservation and image smoothness. Therefore, the enhanced image is more in line with human visual perception.Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by comparison experiments with many stateof-the-art underwater image enhancement algorithms. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides superior results over them in terms of MSE,PSNR, SSIM, UIQM and UCIQE, and the enhanced images are more similar to their ground truth images.

Underwater Image Enhancement Based on IMSRCR and CLAHE-WGIF

Aiming at the scattering and absorption of light in the water body,which causes the problems of color shift,uneven brightness,poor sharpness and missing details in the acquired underwater images,an underwater image enhancement algorithm based on IMSRCR and CLAHE-WGIF is proposed.Firstly,the IMSRCR algorithm proposed in this paper is used to process the original underwater image with adaptive color shift correction;secondly,the image is converted to HSV color space,and the segmentation exponential algorithm is used to process the S component to enhance the image saturation;finally,multi-scale Retinex is used to decompose the V component image into detail layer and base layer,and adaptive two-dimensional gamma correction is made to the base layer to adjust the brightness unevenness,while the detail layer is processed by CLAHE-WGIF algorithm to enhance the image contrast and detail information.The experimental results show that our algorithm has some advantages over existing algorithms in both subjective and objective evaluations,and the information entropy of the image is improved by 6.3%on average,and the UIQM and UCIQE indexes are improved by 12.9%and 20.3%on average.

Pixel’s Quantum Image Enhancement Using Quantum Calculus

The current study provides a quantum calculus-based medical image enhancement technique that dynamically chooses the spatial distribution of image pixel intensity values.The technique focuses on boosting the edges and texture of an image while leaving the smooth areas alone.The brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)scans are used to visualize the tumors that have spread throughout the brain in order to gain a better understanding of the stage of brain cancer.Accurately detecting brain cancer is a complex challenge that the medical system faces when diagnosing the disease.To solve this issue,this research offers a quantum calculus-based MRI image enhancement as a pre-processing step for brain cancer diagnosis.The proposed image enhancement approach improves images with low gray level changes by estimating the pixel’s quantum probability.The suggested image enhancement technique is demonstrated to be robust and resistant to major quality changes on a variety ofMRIscan datasets of variable quality.ForMRI scans,the BRISQUE“blind/referenceless image spatial quality evaluator”and the NIQE“natural image quality evaluator”measures were 39.38 and 3.58,respectively.The proposed image enhancement model,according to the data,produces the best image quality ratings,and it may be able to aid medical experts in the diagnosis process.The experimental results were achieved using a publicly available collection of MRI scans.

A Text Image Watermarking Algorithm Based on Image Enhancement

Digital watermarking technology is adequate for copyright protection and content authentication.There needs to be more research on the watermarking algorithm after printing and scanning.Aiming at the problem that existing anti-print scanning text image watermarking algorithms cannot take into account the invisibility and robustness of the watermark,an anti-print scanning watermarking algorithm suitable for text images is proposed.This algorithm first performs a series of image enhancement preprocessing operations on the printed scanned image to eliminate the interference of incorrect bit information on watermark embedding and then uses a combination of Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT)-Singular Value Decomposition(SVD)to embed the watermark.Experiments show that the average Normalized Correlation(NC)of the watermark extracted by this algorithm against attacks such as Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG)compression,JPEG2000 compression,and print scanning is above 0.93.Especially,the average NC of the watermark extracted after print scanning attacks is greater than 0.964,and the average Bit Error Ratio(BER)is 5.15%.This indicates that this algorithm has strong resistance to various attacks and print scanning attacks and can better take into account the invisibility of the watermark.

RF-Net: Unsupervised Low-Light Image Enhancement Based on Retinex and Exposure Fusion

Low-light image enhancement methods have limitations in addressing issues such as color distortion,lack of vibrancy,and uneven light distribution and often require paired training data.To address these issues,we propose a two-stage unsupervised low-light image enhancement algorithm called Retinex and Exposure Fusion Network(RFNet),which can overcome the problems of over-enhancement of the high dynamic range and under-enhancement of the low dynamic range in existing enhancement algorithms.This algorithm can better manage the challenges brought about by complex environments in real-world scenarios by training with unpaired low-light images and regular-light images.In the first stage,we design a multi-scale feature extraction module based on Retinex theory,capable of extracting details and structural information at different scales to generate high-quality illumination and reflection images.In the second stage,an exposure image generator is designed through the camera response mechanism function to acquire exposure images containing more dark features,and the generated images are fused with the original input images to complete the low-light image enhancement.Experiments show the effectiveness and rationality of each module designed in this paper.And the method reconstructs the details of contrast and color distribution,outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods in both qualitative and quantitative metrics,and shows excellent performance in the real world.

Removal of Stripes in Remote Sensing Images Based on Statistics Combined with Image Enhancement

A method to remove stripes from remote sensing images is proposed based on statistics and a new image enhancement method.The overall processing steps for improving the quality of remote sensing images are introduced to provide a general baseline.Due to the differences in satellite sensors when producing images,subtle but inherent stripes can appear at the stitching positions between the sensors.These stitchingstripes cannot be eliminated by conventional relative radiometric calibration.The inherent stitching stripes cause difficulties in downstream tasks such as the segmentation,classification and interpretation of remote sensing images.Therefore,a method to remove the stripes based on statistics and a new image enhancement approach are proposed in this paper.First,the inconsistency in grayscales around stripes is eliminated with the statistical method.Second,the pixels within stripes are weighted and averaged based on updated pixel values to enhance the uniformity of the overall image radiation quality.Finally,the details of the images are highlighted by a new image enhancement method,which makes the whole image clearer.Comprehensive experiments are performed,and the results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the baseline approach in terms of visual quality and radiation correction accuracy.

Application of Image Enhancement Techniques to Potential Field Data

In this paper the application of image enhancement techniques to potential field data is briefly described and two improved enhancement methods are introduced. One method is derived from the histogram equalization technique and automatically determines the color spectra of geophysical maps. Colors can be properly distributed and visual effects and resolution can be enhanced by the method. The other method is based on the modified Radon transform and gradient calculation and is used to detect and enhance linear features in gravity and magnetic images. The method facilites the detection of line segments in the transform domain. Tests with synthetic images and real data show the methods to be effective in feature enhancement.

An Approach to Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Image Structural Decomposition

Underwater imaging posts a challenge due to the degradation by the absorption and scattering occurred during light propagation as well as poor lighting conditions in water medium Although image filtering techniques are utilized to improve image quality effectively, problems of the distortion of image details and the bias of color correction still exist in output images due to the complexity of image texture distribution. This paper proposes a new underwater image enhancement method based on image struc- tural decomposition. By introducing a curvature factor into the Mumford_Shah_G decomposition algorithm, image details and struc- ture components are better preserved without the gradient effect. Thus, histogram equalization and Retinex algorithms are applied in the decomposed structure component for global image enhancement and non-uniform brightness correction for gray level and the color images, then the optical absorption spectrum in water medium is incorporate to improve the color correction. Finally, the en- hauced structure and preserved detail component are re.composed to generate the output. Experiments with real underwater images verify the image improvement by the proposed method in image contrast, brightness and color fidelity.

Improved image enhancement method for flotation froth image based on parameter extraction

Froth image could strongly indicate the production status in mineral flotation process.Considering low contrast and sensitivity to noises and illumination of froth images in flotation cells,an improved image enhancement algorithm based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and multiscale Retinex algorithm has been proposed.Nonsubsampled contourlet transform was firstly adopted to decompose the flotation froth images,ensure signals invariance and avoid the blurring edge.Secondly,a multiscale Retinex algorithm was used to enhance the lower frequency image and improve the brightness uniformity.Adaptive classification method based on Bayes atrophy threshold was proposed to eliminate noise,preserve strong edges,and enhance weak edges of band-pass sub-band images.Experiment shows that the proposed method could enhance the edge,contour,details and curb noise,and improve visual effects.Under-segmentation caused by noise and blurring edge has been solved,which lays a foundation for extracting foamy morphological flotation froth and analyzing grade.

Research and Implementation of Algorithm for Image Enhancement and Unwrapped Distortion Correction for SLVF Panoramic Night Vision Image

Abstract： Based on digital signal processor（DSP） and field programmable gate array（FPGA） techniques, the architecture of super large view field（SLVF） panoramic night vision image processing hardware platform was established. The panoramic unwrapping and correcting algorithm, up to a full 360°, based on coordinate rotation digital computer （CORDIC） and night vision image enhancement algorithm, based on histogram equalization theory and edge detection theory, was presented in this paper, with the purpose of processing night vision dynamic panoramic annular image. The annular image can be unwrapped and corrected to conventional rectangular panorama by the panoramic image processing algorithm, which uses the pipelined CORDIC configuration to realize a trigonometric function generator with high speed and high precision. Histogram equalization algorithm can perfectly enhance the contrast of the night vision image. Edge detection algorithm can be propitious to find and detect small dim dynamic targets in night vision circumstances. After abundant experiment, the al- gorithm for panoramic image processing and night vision image enhancement is successfully implemented in FPGA and DSP. The panoramic night vision image system is a compact device, with no external rotating parts. And the system can reliably and dynamically detect 360＊ SLVF panoramic night vision image.

Adaptive image enhancement algorithm based on fuzzy entropy and human visual characteristics

To overcome the shortcomings of the Lee image enhancement algorithm and its improvement based on the logarithmic image processing(LIP) model, this paper proposes what we believe to be an effective image enhancement algorithm. This algorithm introduces fuzzy entropy, makes full use of neighborhood information, fuzzy information and human visual characteristics.To enhance an image, this paper first carries out the reasonable fuzzy-3 partition of its histogram into the dark region, intermediate region and bright region. It then extracts the statistical characteristics of the three regions and adaptively selects the parameter αaccording to the statistical characteristics of the image’s gray-scale values. It also adds a useful nonlinear transform, thus increasing the ubiquity of the algorithm. Finally, the causes for the gray-scale value overcorrection that occurs in the traditional image enhancement algorithms are analyzed and their solutions are proposed.The simulation results show that our image enhancement algorithm can effectively suppress the noise of an image, enhance its contrast and visual effect, sharpen its edge and adjust its dynamic range.

Interactive Image Enhancement by Fuzzy Relaxation

In this paper, an interactive image enhancement （HE） technique based on fuzzy relaxation is presented, which allows the user to select different intensity levels for enhancement and intermit the enhancement process according to his/her preference in applications. First, based on an analysis of the convergence of a fuzzy relaxation algorithm for image contrast enhancement, an improved version of this algorithm, which is called FuzzIIE Method 1, is suggested by deriving a relationship between the convergence regions and the parameters in the transformations defined in the algorithm. Then a method called FuzzIIE Method 2 is introduced by using a different fuzzy relaxation function, in which there is no need to re-select the parameter values for interactive image enhancement. Experimental results are presented demonstrating the enhancement capabilities of the proposed methods under different conditions.

Single Image Enhancement in Sandstorm Weather via Tensor Least Square

In this paper,we present a tensor least square based model for sand/sandstorm removal in images.The main contributions of this paper are as follows.First,an important intrinsic natural feature of outdoor scenes free of sand/sandstorm is found that the outlines in RGB channels are somewise similar,which discloses the physical validation using the tensor instead of the matrix.Second,a tensor least square optimization model is presented for the decomposition of edge-preserving base layers and details.This model not only decomposes the color image(taken as an inseparable indivisibility)in X,Y directions,but also in Z direction,which meets the statistical feature of natural scenes and can physically disclose the intrinsic color information.The model’s advantages are twofold:one is the decomposition of edgepreserving base layers and details that can be employed for contrast enhancement without artificial halos,and the other one is the color driving ability that makes the enhanced images as close to natural images as possible via the inherent color structure.Thirdly,the tensor least square optimization model based image enhancement scheme is discussed for the sandstorm weather images.Finally,the experiments and comparisons with the stateof-the-art methods on real degraded images under sandstorm weather are shown to verify our method’s efficiency.

A New Medical Image Enhancement Algorithm Based on Fractional Calculus

The enhancement of medical images is a challenging research task due to the unforeseeable variation in the quality of the captured images.The captured images may present with low contrast and low visibility,which might inuence the accuracy of the diagnosis process.To overcome this problem,this paper presents a new fractional integral entropy(FITE)that estimates the unforeseeable probabilities of image pixels,posing as the main contribution of the paper.The proposed model dynamically enhances the image based on the image contents.The main advantage of FITE lies in its capability to enhance the low contrast intensities through pixels’probability.Initially,the pixel probability of the fractional power is utilized to extract the illumination value from the pixels of the image.Next,the contrast of the image is then adjusted to enhance the regions with low visibility.Finally,the fractional integral entropy approach is implemented to enhance the low visibility contents from the input image.Tests were conducted on brain MRI,lungs CT,and kidney MRI scans datasets of different image qualities to show that the proposed model is robust and can withstand dramatic variations in quality.The obtained comparative results show that the proposed image enhancement model achieves the best BRISQUE and NIQE scores.Overall,this model improves the details of brain MRI,lungs CT,and kidney MRI scans,and could therefore potentially help the medical staff during the diagnosis process.

New algorithm for infrared small target image enhancement based on wavelet transform and human visual properties

The key to the wavelet based denoising teehniquea is how to manipulate the wavelet coefficients. By referring to the idea of Inclusive-OR in the design of circuits, this paper proposes a new algorithm called wavelet domain Inclusive-OR denoising algorithm（WDIDA）, which distinguishes the wavelet coefficients belonging to image or noise by considering their phases and modulus maxima simultaneously. Using this new algorithm, the denoising effects are improved and the computation time is reduced. Furthermore, in order to enhance the edges of the image but not magnify noise, a contrast nonlinear enhancing algorithm is presented according to human visual properties. Compared with traditional enhancing algorithms, the algorithm that we proposed has a better noise reducing performanee , preserving edges and improving the visual quality of images.

Comparative analysis of different methods for image enhancement

Image enhancement technology plays a very important role to improve image quality in image processing. By enhancing some information and restraining other information selectively, it can improve image visual effect. The objective of this work is to implement the image enhancement to gray scale images using different techniques. After the fundamental methods of image enhancement processing are demonstrated, image enhancement algorithms based on space and frequency domains are systematically investigated and compared. The advantage and defect of the above-mentioned algorithms are analyzed. The algorithms of wavelet based image enhancement are also deduced and generalized. Wavelet transform modulus maxima(WTMM) is a method for detecting the fractal dimension of a signal, it is well used for image enhancement. The image techniques are compared by using the mean(μ),standard deviation(?), mean square error(MSE) and PSNR(peak signal to noise ratio). A group of experimental results demonstrate that the image enhancement algorithm based on wavelet transform is effective for image de-noising and enhancement. Wavelet transform modulus maxima method is one of the best methods for image enhancement.