Foggy image–sharpening method with multi-channel polarization information system

This article aims to reduce the influence of heavy fog on the outdoor imaging equipment and to maximally improve the foggy image resolution. It is known that reflected light of the object includes the abundant target polarization information. The foggy image can be restored by these information of the target and the airlight. Therefore, this article introduces a multi-channel polarization information system and defogging algorithm accordingly. The polarization information system provides a necessary solution for the accurate application of a specific algorithm, since it can ensure the accuracy of acquired image information. The key point of the proposed algorithm lies in accurately estimating the parameters in the polarization defogging model. Based on the normal threshold distribution comparison, it can avoid the highlight portion of the non-sky area in the image and accurately estimate the airlight intensity at infinite distance so as to effectively reduce the color distortion of the bright area. The median filtering algorithm is used to obtain the airlight degree of polarization by using three obtained polarization scenes. At last, this article analyzes the experimental results through defogging evaluation indexes and compared the result obtained by this algorithm with others.