Dynamic Range Compression of Infrared Images Based on Histogram Equalization with Edge Inversion

Abstract

The problem of compression of the dynamic range of infrared images is considered. To improve the quality of tone mapping of infrared images when their dynamic range is compressed and to simplify the control over the reproduction characteristics of infrared images, a dynamic range conversion algorithm based on adaptive histogram equalization with edge inversion is proposed. The essence of the algorithm consists in double reduction of the dynamic range of the infrared image with intermediate stretching, compression and overlapping of edges with inversion. To select the brightness interval and the degree of its stretching, the proposed algorithm uses the asymmetry coefficient. The algorithm makes it possible to improve some global and interval indicators of image reproduction quality by superimposing the edges of the histogram.

Keywords

• image dynamic range reduction
• image enhancement
• infrared images
• histogram equalization
• histogram shape control