Combined total variation of first and fractional orders for Poisson noise removal in digital images

Introduction: Many methods have been proposed to handle the image restoration problem with Poisson noise. A popular approach to Poissonian image reconstruction is the one based on Total Variation. This method can provide significantly sharp edges and visually fine images, but it results in piecewise-constant regions in the resulting images. Purpose: Developing an adaptive total variation-based model for the reconstruction of images contaminated by Poisson noise, and an algorithm for solving the optimization problem. Results: We proposed an effective way to restore images degraded by Poisson noise. Using the Bayesian framework, we proposed an adaptive model based on a combination of first-order total variation and fractional order total variation. The first-order total variation model is efficient for suppressing the noise and preserving the keen edges simultaneously. However, the first-order total variation method usually causes artifact problems in the obtained results. To avoid this drawback, we can use high-order total variation models, one of which is the fractional-order total variation-based model for image restoration. In the fractional-order total variation model, the derivatives have an order greater than or equal to one. It leads to the convenience of computation with a compact discrete form. However, methods based on the fractional-order total variation may cause image blurring. Thus, the proposed model incorporates the advantages of two total variation regularization models, having a significant effect on the edge-preserving image restoration. In order to solve the considered optimization problem, the Split Bregman method is used. Experimental results are provided, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.  Practical relevance: The proposed method allows you to restore Poissonian images preserving their edges. The presented numerical simulation demonstrates the competitive performance of the model proposed for image reconstruction. Discussion: From the experimental results, we can see that the proposed algorithm is effective in suppressing noise and preserving the image edges. However, the weighted parameters in the proposed model were not automatically selected at each iteration of the proposed algorithm. This requires additional research.