Multi‐cues underwater image restoration algorithm combined with light field technology

Abstract

Abstract Underwater images suffer from color distortion, low clarity and halos problems due to light absorption, particle scattering and non‐uniform illumination. To address these degradation issues, a multi‐cues underwater image restoration algorithm combined with light field technology is proposed. First, based on Epipolar Plane Image, the light field cue transmittance containing depth information is calculated. Then, according to the turbidity of the underwater image, the light field cue transmittance and the polarization cue transmittance are fused to obtain the multi‐cues transmittance, which can effectively reduce the effect of particle scattering and color bias. Finally, the background light is estimated through the all‐focus operation, which can effectively overcome the distortion of an underwater single image and simultaneously reduce the halo phenomenon. Experimental results show that the method achieves the best results evaluated by UCIQE, UIQM, PSNR, and SSIM, and the restored color under the method is closer to the actual image than other underwater restoration methods.

Keywords

• computer vision
• focusing
• image restoration
• light polarisation