Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling

Haze-induced image degradation in outdoor scenes, caused by atmospheric scattering and absorption, poses significant challenges for applications such as surveillance, autonomous navigation, and remote sensing. This research focuses on improving image dehazing by enhancing two key components: Dark Ch...

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Main Authors: Ahmad Hussain, Mansoor Iqbal, Sheraz Aslam, Saad Alahmari, Abdulwahab Alkharashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11023244/
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author Ahmad Hussain
Mansoor Iqbal
Sheraz Aslam
Saad Alahmari
Abdulwahab Alkharashi
author_facet Ahmad Hussain
Mansoor Iqbal
Sheraz Aslam
Saad Alahmari
Abdulwahab Alkharashi
author_sort Ahmad Hussain
collection DOAJ
description Haze-induced image degradation in outdoor scenes, caused by atmospheric scattering and absorption, poses significant challenges for applications such as surveillance, autonomous navigation, and remote sensing. This research focuses on improving image dehazing by enhancing two key components: Dark Channel Prior (DCP) and Atmospheric Light Estimation (ALE). DCP exploits the statistical property that haze-free regions exhibit low minimum intensity values, aiding in accurate haze detection. ALE estimates atmospheric light from distant, less-scattered sources, ensuring precise haze removal. To further enhance dehazing performance, this study introduces a Minimum Fusion Technique, which selects the minimum intensity value for each pixel across multiple dehazed outputs, effectively preserving fine details and reducing artifacts. The proposed method is evaluated on the SOTS Outdoor dataset from the RESIDE benchmark, comprising 500 pairs of real-world hazy and clear images. By integrating optimized DCP, ALE, and the Minimum Fusion Technique, the approach achieves superior performance with a PSNR of 35.45 dB and an SSIM of 0.97, outperforming existing methods such as Scene-Specific DCP, TON, and FFA_NET. Additionally, it demonstrates reduced execution time and enhanced visual quality, making it a more efficient and reliable solution for real-world dehazing applications. These improvements establish the proposed method as a state-of-the-art approach for restoring clarity in outdoor images, contributing to more effective and accurate image reconstruction in challenging environments.
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spelling doaj-art-cf8630b029c54e7c92aafc731cb328b92025-08-20T03:20:29ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011310072010073010.1109/ACCESS.2025.357664611023244Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light HandlingAhmad Hussain0Mansoor Iqbal1Sheraz Aslam2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4305-0908Saad Alahmari3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9179-8326Abdulwahab Alkharashi4https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6618-2659Department of Computer Science, University of Wah, Wah, PakistanDepartment of Computer Science, University of Wah, Wah, PakistanDepartment of Computer Science, CTL Eurocollege, Limassol, CyprusDepartment of Computer Science, Applied College, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Computer Science, College of Computing and Informatics, Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaHaze-induced image degradation in outdoor scenes, caused by atmospheric scattering and absorption, poses significant challenges for applications such as surveillance, autonomous navigation, and remote sensing. This research focuses on improving image dehazing by enhancing two key components: Dark Channel Prior (DCP) and Atmospheric Light Estimation (ALE). DCP exploits the statistical property that haze-free regions exhibit low minimum intensity values, aiding in accurate haze detection. ALE estimates atmospheric light from distant, less-scattered sources, ensuring precise haze removal. To further enhance dehazing performance, this study introduces a Minimum Fusion Technique, which selects the minimum intensity value for each pixel across multiple dehazed outputs, effectively preserving fine details and reducing artifacts. The proposed method is evaluated on the SOTS Outdoor dataset from the RESIDE benchmark, comprising 500 pairs of real-world hazy and clear images. By integrating optimized DCP, ALE, and the Minimum Fusion Technique, the approach achieves superior performance with a PSNR of 35.45 dB and an SSIM of 0.97, outperforming existing methods such as Scene-Specific DCP, TON, and FFA_NET. Additionally, it demonstrates reduced execution time and enhanced visual quality, making it a more efficient and reliable solution for real-world dehazing applications. These improvements establish the proposed method as a state-of-the-art approach for restoring clarity in outdoor images, contributing to more effective and accurate image reconstruction in challenging environments.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11023244/Image dehazingdark channel prioratmospheric light estimationminimum fusion techniquevisual clarity
spellingShingle Ahmad Hussain
Mansoor Iqbal
Sheraz Aslam
Saad Alahmari
Abdulwahab Alkharashi
Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
IEEE Access
Image dehazing
dark channel prior
atmospheric light estimation
minimum fusion technique
visual clarity
title Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
title_full Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
title_fullStr Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
title_full_unstemmed Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
title_short Optimized Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior With Minimum Fusion and Improved Atmospheric Light Handling
title_sort optimized image dehazing using dark channel prior with minimum fusion and improved atmospheric light handling
topic Image dehazing
dark channel prior
atmospheric light estimation
minimum fusion technique
visual clarity
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11023244/
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AT sherazaslam optimizedimagedehazingusingdarkchannelpriorwithminimumfusionandimprovedatmosphericlighthandling
AT saadalahmari optimizedimagedehazingusingdarkchannelpriorwithminimumfusionandimprovedatmosphericlighthandling
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