Haze optical-model-based nighttime image dehazing by modifying attenuation and atmospheric light

Abstract

Scene imaging is often affected by artificial light sources within a hazy environment at night, causing degraded images with low brightness, color distortion, and glow. These problems render the traditional atmospheric scattering optical model obsolete and incompatible. To address this issue, we established an optical imaging model suitable for nighttime dehazing, and an illumination component is incorporated into the attenuation term. We also introduced the near-light source coefficient to redefine the glow. Based on this model, we propose a new nighttime dehazing method. First, the rough atmospheric light is estimated using its low-frequency characteristics. Then, the glow is calculated by the near-light source coefficient. Finally, we remove the haze and illumination to get a clear image. Extensive experiments prove that our method exhibits a better color recovery effect, which effectively improves the visibility and detail. Furthermore, we believe our method outperforms other methods, both qualitatively and quantitatively.