Contrast based background and foreground channel prior for single image dehazing

ABSTRACT

To reduce haze in an image, a contrast-based background and foreground channel prior (BFCP) is proposed in this work. The haze will affect both colour and contrast, and the majority of haze reduction techniques rely on the dark channel prior (DCP) as well as the dark and bright channel priors (DBCP). Even though the DCP and DBCP produced accurate results, they provide a less precise estimate of the haze depth because they do not take into account the local contrast and spikes in the haze image histogram. The goal of this BFCP is to improve the estimation of the transmission map and to correct the spikes in the histogram of the hazed image. By utilizing contrast differences in the background and foreground, BFCP improves transmission map estimates. This method is tested on images of (i) indoor haze, (ii) outdoor haze, (iii) dense haze, (iv) night haze, and (v) fog.

KEYWORDS:

• Dehazing
• dark channel prior
• background and foreground channel prior
• image contrast

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

N. Kavitha

N. Kavitha graduated B.E.,(IT) from Bharathidasan University in the year 2004 and M.E.,(CSE) from Anna University, Chennai, in the year 2006 and PhD degree from Anna University, Chennai, India. She is currently working at Indra Ganesan College of Engineering, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India as a Professor and has 15 years of teaching experience in various subjects in the field of Computer Science. She has published more than 10 research articles in various reputed Journals and Conferences.

S. Anand

S. Anand received his BE Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, from University of Madras, ME degree in Communication Systems, Madurai Kamraj University, and PhD degree from Anna University, Chennai, India. He is a lifetime member of Society of EMC Engineers (India), International Science Community Association, IETE (Fellow), and, ISTE. His current research interests include AI based Image Processing and Antenna Design. He had 32 years of teaching and research experience. Currently he is working as Professor, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, India. He has published more than 110 research articles in reputed journals and conferences.