Nighttime image dehazing using local atmospheric selection rule and weighted entropy for visible-light systems

Abstract

Optical imaging systems are often degraded by scattering due to atmospheric particles, such as haze, fog, and mist. Imaging under nighttime haze conditions may suffer especially from the glows near active light sources as well as scattering. We present a methodology for nighttime image dehazing based on an optical imaging model which accounts for varying light sources and their glow. First, glow effects are decomposed using relative smoothness. Atmospheric light is then estimated by assessing global and local atmospheric light using a local atmospheric selection rule. The transmission of light is then estimated by maximizing an objective function designed on the basis of weighted entropy. Finally, haze is removed using two estimated parameters, namely, atmospheric light and transmission. The visual and quantitative comparison of the experimental results with the results of existing state-of-the-art methods demonstrates the significance of the proposed approach.