Light Field Image Restoration for Vision in Scattering Media

Abstract

Recovering information from contrast-limited, SNR-limited, color-attenuated images in a scattering media is of paramount importance for the autonomous functioning of robotic agents. The task is challenging due to the transient state of the medium, unknown medium parameters and in many cases the need for fully autonomous operation. This work presents a target-less, calibration-less method for restoring underwater light field images and requires no explicit model of the medium. The method adopts a light-field imaging approach to capture, model and compensate for backscatter in the scene leading to the recovery of high- fidelity images. The proposed method for backscatter compensation is validated against other state-of-the-art methods and is demonstrated to yield superior image quality.