Underwater 2D Image Acquisition Using Sequential Striping Illumination

Abstract

Structured lighting techniques have increasingly been employed in underwater imaging, where scattering effects cannot be ignored. This paper presents an approach to underwater image recovery using structured light as a scanning mode. The method tackles both the forward scattering and back scattering problems. By integrating each of the sequentially striping illuminated frame images, we generate a synthesized image that can be modeled on the convolution of the surface albedo and the illumination function. Thus, image acquisition is issued as a problem of image recovery by deconvolution. The convolutional model has the advantage of integrating the forward scattering light into a recovered image so as to eliminate image blur. Notably, the removal of the back scattered light from each frame image can be easily realized by a virtual aperture to limit the field of view; the same principle as of the synchronous scanning systems in underwater imaging. Herein, the implementation of the proposed approach is described, and the results of the underwater experiments are presented.