Enhancing single image dehazing with self-supervised convolutional neural network and dark channel prior integration

Abstract

The removal of noise from images holds great significance as clear and denoised images are vital for various applications. Recent research efforts have been concentrated on the dehazing of single images. While conventional methods and deep learning approaches have been employed for daytime images, learning-based techniques have shown impressive dehazing results, albeit often with increased complexity. This has led to the persistence of prior-based methods, despite their slightly lower performance. To address this issue, we propose a novel deep learning-based dehazing method utilizing a self-supervised convolutional neural network (CNN). This approach incorporates both the input hazy image and the dark channel prior. By leveraging an encoder, the combined information of the dark channel prior and haze image is encoded into a condensed latent representation. Subsequently, a decoder is employed to reconstruct the clean image using these latent features. Our experimental results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm significantly enhances image quality, as indicated by improved peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) values. We perform both quantitative and qualitative comparisons with recently published techniques, showcasing the efficacy of our approach.