A Fusion Based Visibility Enhancement of Single Underwater Hazy Image

Abstract

Underwater images are prone to contrast loss, limited visibility, and undesirable color cast. For underwater computer vision and pattern recognition algorithms, these images need to be pre-processed. We have addressed a novel solution to this problem by proposing fully automated underwater image dehazing using multimodal DWT fusion. Inputs for the combinational image fusion scheme are derived from Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for contrast enhancement in HSV color space and color constancy using Shades of Gray algorithm respectively. To appraise the work conducted, the visual and quantitative analysis is performed. The restored images demonstrate improved contrast and effective enhancement in overall image quality and visibility. The proposed algorithm performs on par with the recent underwater dehazing techniques.