Underwater Image Restoration Based on Image Fusion

Abstract

The haziness in underwater images occurs due to two major phenomena namely absorption and scattering of light. Hence, we have proposed an image fusion-based approach to improve the visibility of images obtained underwater. The proposed method uses a single hazy image. Initially the colour corrected and contrast improved versions of the image are obtained. Further, Laplace transform is applied which is followed by replication and saliency mapping on each of the derived images. Multi-scale image fusion technique has been used to combine the inputs. This enables each of the fused images to contribute the most essential feature to obtain the resultant image. Thus, the proposed method significantly restores the quality of the input distorted images