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.

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.

Enhancing the Quality of Low-Light Printed Circuit Board Images through Hue, Saturation, and Value Channel Processing and Improved Multi-Scale Retinex

To address the issue of deteriorated PCB image quality in the quality inspection process due to insufficient or uneven lighting, we proposed an image enhancement fusion algorithm based on different color spaces. Firstly, an improved MSRCR method was employed for brightness enhancement of the original image. Next, the color space of the original image was transformed from RGB to HSV, followed by processing the S-channel image using bilateral filtering and contrast stretching algorithms. The V-channel image was subjected to brightness enhancement using adaptive Gamma and CLAHE algorithms. Subsequently, the processed image was transformed back to the RGB color space from HSV. Finally, the images processed by the two algorithms were fused to create a new RGB image, and color restoration was performed on the fused image. Comparative experiments with other methods indicated that the contrast of the image was optimized, texture features were more abundantly preserved, brightness levels were significantly improved, and color distortion was prevented effectively, thus enhancing the quality of low-lit PCB images.

DEANet: Decomposition Enhancement and Adjustment Network for Low-Light Image Enhancement

Poor illumination greatly affects the quality of obtained images.In this paper,a novel convolutional neural network named DEANet is proposed on the basis of Retinex for low-light image enhancement.DEANet combines the frequency and content information of images and is divided into three subnetworks:decomposition,enhancement,and adjustment networks,which perform image decomposition;denoising,contrast enhancement,and detail preservation;and image adjustment and generation,respectively.The model is trained on the public LOL dataset,and the experimental results show that it outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods regarding visual effects and image quality.

Toward Robust and Efficient Low-Light Image Enhancement:Progressive Attentive Retinex Architecture Search

In recent years,learning-based low-light image enhancement methods have shown excellent performance,but the heuristic design adopted by most methods requires high engineering skills for developers,causing expensive inference costs that are unfriendly to the hardware platform.To handle this issue,we propose to automatically discover an efficient architecture,called progressive attentive Retinex network(PAR-Net).We define a new attentive Retinex framework by introducing the attention mechanism to strengthen structural representation.A multi-level search space containing micro-level on the operation and macro-level on the cell is established to realize meticulous construction.To endow the searched architecture with the hardware-aware property,we develop a latency-constrained progressive search strategy that successfully improves the model capability by explicitly expressing the intrinsic relationship between different models defined in the attentive Retinex framework.Extensive quantitative and qualitative experimental results fully justify the superiority of our proposed approach against other state-of-the-art methods.A series of analytical evaluations is performed to illustrate the validity of our proposed algorithm.

Dendritic Learning-Incorporated Vision Transformer for Image Recognition

Dear Editor,This letter proposes to integrate dendritic learnable network architecture with Vision Transformer to improve the accuracy of image recognition.In this study,based on the theory of dendritic neurons in neuroscience,we design a network that is more practical for engineering to classify visual features.Based on this,we propose a dendritic learning-incorporated vision Transformer(DVT),which out-performs other state-of-the-art methods on three image recognition benchmarks.

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.

Background removal from global auroral images:Data-driven dayglow modeling

Global images of auroras obtained by cameras on spacecraft are a key tool for studying the near-Earth environment.However,the cameras are sensitive not only to auroral emissions produced by precipitating particles,but also to dayglow emissions produced by photoelectrons induced by sunlight.Nightglow emissions and scattered sunlight can contribute to the background signal.To fully utilize such images in space science,background contamination must be removed to isolate the auroral signal.Here we outline a data-driven approach to modeling the background intensity in multiple images by formulating linear inverse problems based on B-splines and spherical harmonics.The approach is robust,flexible,and iteratively deselects outliers,such as auroral emissions.The final model is smooth across the terminator and accounts for slow temporal variations and large-scale asymmetries in the dayglow.We demonstrate the model by using the three far ultraviolet cameras on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration(IMAGE)mission.The method can be applied to historical missions and is relevant for upcoming missions,such as the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.

Using restored two-dimensional X-ray images to reconstruct the three-dimensional magnetopause

Astronomical imaging technologies are basic tools for the exploration of the universe,providing basic data for the research of astronomy and space physics.The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)carried by the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)aims to capture two-dimensional(2-D)images of the Earth’s magnetosheath by using soft X-ray imaging.However,the observed 2-D images are affected by many noise factors,destroying the contained information,which is not conducive to the subsequent reconstruction of the three-dimensional(3-D)structure of the magnetopause.The analysis of SXI-simulated observation images shows that such damage cannot be evaluated with traditional restoration models.This makes it difficult to establish the mapping relationship between SXIsimulated observation images and target images by using mathematical models.We propose an image restoration algorithm for SXIsimulated observation images that can recover large-scale structure information on the magnetosphere.The idea is to train a patch estimator by selecting noise–clean patch pairs with the same distribution through the Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm to achieve the restoration estimation of the SXI-simulated observation image,whose mapping relationship with the target image is established by the patch estimator.The Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm is used to select multiple patch clusters with the same distribution and then train different patch estimators so as to improve the accuracy of the estimator.Experimental results showed that our image restoration algorithm is superior to other classical image restoration algorithms in the SXI-simulated observation image restoration task,according to the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity.The restoration results of SXI-simulated observation images are used in the tangent fitting approach and the computed tomography approach toward magnetospheric reconstruction techniques,significantly improving the reconstruction results.Hence,the proposed technology may be feasible for processing SXI-simulated observation images.

SMILE soft X-ray Imager flight model CCD370 pre-flight device characterisation

Throughout the SMILE mission the satellite will be bombarded by radiation which gradually damages the focal plane devices and degrades their performance.In order to understand the changes of the CCD370s within the soft X-ray Imager,an initial characterisation of the devices has been carried out to give a baseline performance level.Three CCDs have been characterised,the two flight devices and the flight spa re.This has been carried out at the Open University in a bespo ke cleanroom measure ment facility.The results show that there is a cluster of bright pixels in the flight spa re which increases in size with tempe rature.However at the nominal ope rating tempe rature(-120℃) it is within the procure ment specifications.Overall,the devices meet the specifications when ope rating at -120℃ in 6 × 6 binned frame transfer science mode.The se rial charge transfer inefficiency degrades with temperature in full frame mode.However any charge losses are recovered when binning/frame transfer is implemented.

Two-Staged Method for Ice Channel Identification Based on Image Segmentation and Corner Point Regression

Identification of the ice channel is the basic technology for developing intelligent ships in ice-covered waters,which is important to ensure the safety and economy of navigation.In the Arctic,merchant ships with low ice class often navigate in channels opened up by icebreakers.Navigation in the ice channel often depends on good maneuverability skills and abundant experience from the captain to a large extent.The ship may get stuck if steered into ice fields off the channel.Under this circumstance,it is very important to study how to identify the boundary lines of ice channels with a reliable method.In this paper,a two-staged ice channel identification method is developed based on image segmentation and corner point regression.The first stage employs the image segmentation method to extract channel regions.In the second stage,an intelligent corner regression network is proposed to extract the channel boundary lines from the channel region.A non-intelligent angle-based filtering and clustering method is proposed and compared with corner point regression network.The training and evaluation of the segmentation method and corner regression network are carried out on the synthetic and real ice channel dataset.The evaluation results show that the accuracy of the method using the corner point regression network in the second stage is achieved as high as 73.33%on the synthetic ice channel dataset and 70.66%on the real ice channel dataset,and the processing speed can reach up to 14.58frames per second.

Estimation-free spatial-domain image reconstruction of structured illumination microscopy

Structured illumination microscopy(SIM)achieves super-resolution(SR)by modulating the high-frequency information of the sample into the passband of the optical system and subsequent image reconstruction.The traditional Wiener-filtering-based reconstruction algorithm operates in the Fourier domain,it requires prior knowledge of the sinusoidal illumination patterns which makes the time-consuming procedure of parameter estimation to raw datasets necessary,besides,the parameter estimation is sensitive to noise or aberration-induced pattern distortion which leads to reconstruction artifacts.Here,we propose a spatial-domain image reconstruction method that does not require parameter estimation but calculates patterns from raw datasets,and a reconstructed image can be obtained just by calculating the spatial covariance of differential calculated patterns and differential filtered datasets(the notch filtering operation is performed to the raw datasets for attenuating and compensating the optical transfer function(OTF)).Experiments on reconstructing raw datasets including nonbiological,biological,and simulated samples demonstrate that our method has SR capability,high reconstruction speed,and high robustness to aberration and noise.

Design and performance evaluation of a large field-of-view dual-particle time-encoded imager based on a depth-of-interaction detector

Time-encoded imaging is useful for identifying potential special nuclear materials and other radioactive sources at a distance.In this study,a large field-of-view time-encoded imager was developed for gamma-ray and neutron source hotspot imaging based on a depth-of-interaction(DOI)detector.The imager primarily consists of a DOI detector system and a rotary dual-layer cylindrical coded mask.An EJ276 plastic scintillator coupled with two SiPMs was designed as the DOI detector to increase the field of view and improve the imager performance.The difference in signal time at both ends and the log of the signal amplitude ratio were used to calculate the interaction position resolution.The position resolution of the DOI detector was calibrated using a collimated Cs-137 source,and the full width at half maximum of the reconstruction position of the Gaussian fitting curve was approximately 4.4 cm.The DOI detector can be arbitrarily divided into several units to independently reconstruct the source distribution images.The unit length was optimized via Am-Be source-location experiments.A multidetector filtering method is proposed for image denoising.This method can effectively reduce image noise caused by poor DOI detector position resolution.The vertical field of view of the imager was(-55°,55°)when the detector was placed in the center of the coded mask.A DT neutron source at 20 m standoff could be located within 2400 s with an angular resolution of 3.5°.

Infrared and Visible Image Fusion Based on Res2Net-Transformer Automatic Encoding and Decoding

A novel image fusion network framework with an autonomous encoder and decoder is suggested to increase thevisual impression of fused images by improving the quality of infrared and visible light picture fusion. The networkcomprises an encoder module, fusion layer, decoder module, and edge improvementmodule. The encoder moduleutilizes an enhanced Inception module for shallow feature extraction, then combines Res2Net and Transformerto achieve deep-level co-extraction of local and global features from the original picture. An edge enhancementmodule (EEM) is created to extract significant edge features. A modal maximum difference fusion strategy isintroduced to enhance the adaptive representation of information in various regions of the source image, therebyenhancing the contrast of the fused image. The encoder and the EEM module extract features, which are thencombined in the fusion layer to create a fused picture using the decoder. Three datasets were chosen to test thealgorithmproposed in this paper. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the network effectively preservesbackground and detail information in both infrared and visible images, yielding superior outcomes in subjectiveand objective evaluations.

A Systematic Literature Review of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Approaches for Spectral Image Classification in Agricultural Applications Using Aerial Photography

Recently,there has been a notable surge of interest in scientific research regarding spectral images.The potential of these images to revolutionize the digital photography industry,like aerial photography through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs),has captured considerable attention.One encouraging aspect is their combination with machine learning and deep learning algorithms,which have demonstrated remarkable outcomes in image classification.As a result of this powerful amalgamation,the adoption of spectral images has experienced exponential growth across various domains,with agriculture being one of the prominent beneficiaries.This paper presents an extensive survey encompassing multispectral and hyperspectral images,focusing on their applications for classification challenges in diverse agricultural areas,including plants,grains,fruits,and vegetables.By meticulously examining primary studies,we delve into the specific agricultural domains where multispectral and hyperspectral images have found practical use.Additionally,our attention is directed towards utilizing machine learning techniques for effectively classifying hyperspectral images within the agricultural context.The findings of our investigation reveal that deep learning and support vector machines have emerged as widely employed methods for hyperspectral image classification in agriculture.Nevertheless,we also shed light on the various issues and limitations of working with spectral images.This comprehensive analysis aims to provide valuable insights into the current state of spectral imaging in agriculture and its potential for future advancements.

Performance optimization of the neutron-sensitive image intensifier used in neutron imaging

As a non-destructive testing technology,neutron imaging plays an important role in various fields,including material science,nuclear engineering,and fundamental science.An imaging detector with a neutron-sensitive image intensifier has been developed and demonstrated to achieve good spatial resolution and timing resolution.However,the influence of the working voltage on the performance of the neutron-sensitive imaging intensifier has not been studied.To optimize the performance of the neutron-sensitive image intensifier at different voltages,experiments have been performed at the China Spallation Neutron Source(CSNS)neutron beamline.The change in the light yield and imaging quality with different voltages has been acquired.It is shown that the image quality benefits from the high gain of the microchannel plate(MCP)and the high accelerating electric field between the MCP and the screen.Increasing the accelerating electric field is more effective than increasing the gain of MCPs for the improvement of the imaging quality.Increasing the total gain of the MCP stack can be realized more effectively by improving the gain of the standard MCP than that of the n MCP.These results offer a development direction for image intensifiers in the future.

Color Image Compression and Encryption Algorithm Based on 2D Compressed Sensing and Hyperchaotic System

With the advent of the information security era,it is necessary to guarantee the privacy,accuracy,and dependable transfer of pictures.This study presents a new approach to the encryption and compression of color images.It is predicated on 2D compressed sensing(CS)and the hyperchaotic system.First,an optimized Arnold scrambling algorithm is applied to the initial color images to ensure strong security.Then,the processed images are con-currently encrypted and compressed using 2D CS.Among them,chaotic sequences replace traditional random measurement matrices to increase the system’s security.Third,the processed images are re-encrypted using a combination of permutation and diffusion algorithms.In addition,the 2D projected gradient with an embedding decryption(2DPG-ED)algorithm is used to reconstruct images.Compared with the traditional reconstruction algorithm,the 2DPG-ED algorithm can improve security and reduce computational complexity.Furthermore,it has better robustness.The experimental outcome and the performance analysis indicate that this algorithm can withstand malicious attacks and prove the method is effective.

Unified deep learning model for predicting fundus fluorescein angiography image from fundus structure image

The prediction of fundus fluorescein angiography(FFA)images from fundus structural images is a cutting-edge research topic in ophthalmological image processing.Prediction comprises estimating FFA from fundus camera imaging,single-phase FFA from scanning laser ophthalmoscopy(SLO),and three-phase FFA also from SLO.Although many deep learning models are available,a single model can only perform one or two of these prediction tasks.To accomplish three prediction tasks using a unified method,we propose a unified deep learning model for predicting FFA images from fundus structure images using a supervised generative adversarial network.The three prediction tasks are processed as follows:data preparation,network training under FFA supervision,and FFA image prediction from fundus structure images on a test set.By comparing the FFA images predicted by our model,pix2pix,and CycleGAN,we demonstrate the remarkable progress achieved by our proposal.The high performance of our model is validated in terms of the peak signal-to-noise ratio,structural similarity index,and mean squared error.

Integer multiple quantum image scaling based on NEQR and bicubic interpolation

As a branch of quantum image processing,quantum image scaling has been widely studied.However,most of the existing quantum image scaling algorithms are based on nearest-neighbor interpolation and bilinear interpolation,the quantum version of bicubic interpolation has not yet been studied.In this work,we present the first quantum image scaling scheme for bicubic interpolation based on the novel enhanced quantum representation(NEQR).Our scheme can realize synchronous enlargement and reduction of the image with the size of 2^(n)×2^(n) by integral multiple.Firstly,the image is represented by NEQR and the original image coordinates are obtained through multiple CNOT modules.Then,16 neighborhood pixels are obtained by quantum operation circuits,and the corresponding weights of these pixels are calculated by quantum arithmetic modules.Finally,a quantum matrix operation,instead of a classical convolution operation,is used to realize the sum of convolution of these pixels.Through simulation experiments and complexity analysis,we demonstrate that our scheme achieves exponential speedup over the classical bicubic interpolation algorithm,and has better effect than the quantum version of bilinear interpolation.

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.