Evaluation of PM2.5 and PM10 using normalized first-order absolute sum of high-frequency spectrum

Abstract

A new method for air quality evaluation using only visible image analysis is introduced in this paper. Based on the fact that suspended particles in air are visible, we attempted to use visible images to develop an appropriate measure which can be closely related to the density of suspended particles (namely the values of PM2.5 and PM10). Furthermore, using this measure, we can evaluate the values of PM2.5 and PM10 via digital image processing. Combined with water droplets, suspended particles in air can form fog or haze. Based on the monochrome atmospheric scattering model, which has been widely used to describe the formation of a haze image, we propose a measure, normalized first-order absolute sum of high-frequency spectrum (NFAS) and attempt to investigate its relationship with the values of PM2.5 and PM10. The experimental results showed the proposed measure is closely related to PM2.5 and has a relation with PM10.