Influence of blur on feature matching and a geometric approach for photogrammetric deblurring

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have become an interesting and active research topic for photogrammetry. Current research is based on images acquired by a UAV, which have a high ground resolution and good spectral and radiometric resolution, due to the low flight altitudes combined with a high resolution camera. UAV image flights are also cost efficient and have become attractive for many applications including change detection in small scale areas. One of the main problems preventing full automation of data processing of UAV imagery is the degradation effect of blur caused by camera movement during image acquisition. This can be caused by the normal flight movement of the UAV as well as strong winds, turbulence or sudden operator inputs. This blur disturbs the visual analysis and interpretation of the data, causes errors and can degrade the accuracy in automatic photogrammetric processing algorithms. The aim of this research is to develop a blur correction method to deblur UAV images. Deblurring of images is a widely researched topic and often based on the Wiener or Richardson-Lucy deconvolution, which require precise knowledge of both the blur path and extent. Even with knowledge about the blur kernel, the correction causes errors such as ringing, and the deblurred image appears "muddy" and not completely sharp. In the study reported in this paper, overlapping images are used to support the deblurring process, which is advantageous. An algorithm based on the Fourier transformation is presented. This works well in flat areas, but the need for geometrically correct sharp images may limit the application. Deblurring images needs to focus on geometric correct deblurring to assure geometric correct measurements

Motion blur in digital images - analys, detection and correction of motion blur in photogrammetry

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have become an interesting and active research topic for photogrammetry. Current research is based on images acquired by an UAV, which have a high ground resolution and good spectral and radiometrical resolution, due to the low flight altitudes combined with a high resolution camera. UAV image flights are also cost effective and have become attractive for many applications including, change detection in small scale areas. One of the main problems preventing full automation of data processing of UAV imagery is the degradation effect of blur caused by camera movement during image acquisition. This can be caused by the normal flight movement of the UAV as well as strong winds, turbulence or sudden operator inputs. This blur disturbs the visual analysis and interpretation of the data, causes errors and can degrade the accuracy in automatic photogrammetric processing algorithms. The detection and removal of these images is currently achieved manually, which is both time consuming and prone to error, particularly for large image-sets. To increase the quality of data processing an automated process is necessary, which must be both reliable and quick. This thesis proves the negative affect that blurred images have on photogrammetric processing. It shows that small amounts of blur do have serious impacts on target detection and that it slows down processing speed due to the requirement of human intervention. Larger blur can make an image completely unusable and needs to be excluded from processing. To exclude images out of large image datasets an algorithm was developed. The newly developed method makes it possible to detect blur caused by linear camera displacement. The method is based on human detection of blur. Humans detect blurred images best by comparing it to other images in order to establish whether an image is blurred or not. The developed algorithm simulates this procedure by creating an image for comparison using image processing. Creating internally a comparable image makes the method independent of additional images. However, the calculated blur value named SIEDS (saturation image edge difference standard-deviation) on its own does not provide an absolute number to judge if an image is blurred or not. To achieve a reliable judgement of image sharpness the SIEDS value has to be compared to other SIEDS values of the same dataset. This algorithm enables the exclusion of blurred images and subsequently allows photogrammetric processing without them. However, it is also possible to use deblurring techniques to restor blurred images. Deblurring of images is a widely researched topic and often based on the Wiener or Richardson-Lucy deconvolution, which require precise knowledge of both the blur path and extent. Even with knowledge about the blur kernel, the correction causes errors such as ringing, and the deblurred image appears muddy and not completely sharp. In the study reported in this paper, overlapping images are used to support the deblurring process. An algorithm based on the Fourier transformation is presented. This works well in flat areas, but the need for geometrically correct sharp images for deblurring may limit the application. Another method to enhance the image is the unsharp mask method, which improves images significantly and makes photogrammetric processing more successful. However, deblurring of images needs to focus on geometric correct deblurring to assure geometric correct measurements. Furthermore, a novel edge shifting approach was developed which aims to do geometrically correct deblurring. The idea of edge shifting appears to be promising but requires more advanced programming

A convergent blind deconvolution method for post-adaptive-optics astronomical imaging

In this paper we propose a blind deconvolution method which applies to data perturbed by Poisson noise. The objective function is a generalized Kullback-Leibler divergence, depending on both the unknown object and unknown point spread function (PSF), without the addition of regularization terms; constrained minimization, with suitable convex constraints on both unknowns, is considered. The problem is nonconvex and we propose to solve it by means of an inexact alternating minimization method, whose global convergence to stationary points of the objective function has been recently proved in a general setting. The method is iterative and each iteration, also called outer iteration, consists of alternating an update of the object and the PSF by means of fixed numbers of iterations, also called inner iterations, of the scaled gradient projection (SGP) method. The use of SGP has two advantages: first, it allows to prove global convergence of the blind method; secondly, it allows the introduction of different constraints on the object and the PSF. The specific constraint on the PSF, besides non-negativity and normalization, is an upper bound derived from the so-called Strehl ratio, which is the ratio between the peak value of an aberrated versus a perfect wavefront. Therefore a typical application is the imaging of modern telescopes equipped with adaptive optics systems for partial correction of the aberrations due to atmospheric turbulence. In the paper we describe the algorithm and we recall the results leading to its convergence. Moreover we illustrate its effectiveness by means of numerical experiments whose results indicate that the method, pushed to convergence, is very promising in the reconstruction of non-dense stellar clusters. The case of more complex astronomical targets is also considered, but in this case regularization by early stopping of the outer iterations is required

An Adaptive Richardson-Lucy Algorithm for Medical Image Restoration, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2023, nr 1

Image restoration is the process of estimating the original image content from a degraded picture. In this paper, the Richardson-Lucy iterative algorithm was developed to improve the quality of degraded medical images. It has been assumed that medical images are exposed to two types of degradation. The first type is the blur function in the Gaussian form with different widths, i.e. σ = 1 , 2, and 3. The second type of degradation was assumed to be of the independent white Gaussian noise type with different signal-to-noise ratio values: SNR = 10, 50 , and 100. The results obtained from the adaptive filter are compared, quantitatively, with different conventional filters: inverse, Wiener, and constraint least square, by applying different measures, such as: power signal to noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index (SSID), and root mean square error (RMSE). The comparison showed that the adaptive recovery filter achieves better results

Iterative-trained semi-blind deconvolution algorithm to compensate straylight in retinal images

The optical quality of an image depends on both the optical properties of the imaging system and the physical properties of the medium in which the light travels from the object to the final imaging sensor. The analysis of the point spread function of the optical system is an objective way to quantify the image degradation. In retinal imaging, the presence of corneal or cristalline lens opacifications spread the light at wide angular distributions. If the mathematical operator that degrades the image is known, the image can be restored through deconvolution methods. In the particular case of retinal imaging, this operator may be unknown (or partially) due to the presence of cataracts, corneal edema, or vitreous opacification. In those cases, blind deconvolution theory provides useful results to restore important spatial information of the image. In this work, a new semi-blind deconvolution method has been developed by training an iterative process with the Glare Spread Function kernel based on the Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm to compensate a veiling glare effect in retinal images due to intraocular straylight. The method was first tested with simulated retinal images generated from a straylight eye model and applied to a real retinal image dataset composed of healthy subjects and patients with glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Results showed the capacity of the algorithm to detect and compensate the veiling glare degradation and improving the image sharpness up to 1000% in the case of healthy subjects and up to 700% in the pathological retinal images. This image quality improvement allows performing image segmentation processing with restored hidden spatial information after deconvolution

Deblurring of post-adaptive optics images

The novel and freely available ‘Patch’ software package can be used to deconvolve images that have spatially variable point spread functions

Laser beams-based localization methods for Boom-type roadheader using underground camera non-uniform blur model

The efficiency of automatic underground tunneling is significantly depends on the localization accuracy and reliable for the Boom-type roadheader. In comparison with other underground equipment positioning methods, vision-based measurement has gained attention for its advantages of noncontact and no accumulated error. However, the harsh underground environment, especially the geometric errors brought by the vibration of the machine body to the underground camera model, has a certain influence on the accuracy and stability for the vision-based underground localization. In this paper, a laser beams-based localization methods for the machine body of Boom-type roadheader is presented, which can tackle the dense-dust, low illumination environment with the stray lights interference. Taking mining vibration into consideration, an underground camera non-uniform blur model that incorporate the two-layer glasses refraction effect was established to eliminate vibration errors. The blur model explicitly reveals the change of imaging optical path under the influence of vibration and double layer explosion-proof glass. On the basis of this, the underground laser beams extraction and positioning are presents, which is with well environmental adaptability, and the improved 2P3L (two-points-three-lines) localization model from line correspondences are developed. Experimental evaluation are designed to verify the performance of the proposed method, and the deblurring algorithm is investigated and evaluated. The results show that the proposed methods is effective to restore the blurred laser beams image that caused by the vibration, and can meet the precision need of roadheader body localization for roadway construction in coal mine

Resolution enhancement of 2D controlled-source electromagnetic images by use of point-spread function inversion

The marine controlled-source electromagnetic technique is employed both in large-scale geophysical applications as well as within the exploration of hydrocarbons and gas hydrates. Because of the diffusive character of the EM field, only very low frequencies are used, leading to inversion results with low resolution. In this paper, we calculated the resolution matrix associated with the inversion and derived the corresponding point-spread functions. The PSFs provided information about how much the actual inversion was blurred. Using a space-varying deconvolution can thus further improve the inversion result. The actual deblurring was carried out using the nonnegative flexible conjugate gradient least-squares (NN-FCGLS) algorithm, which is a fast iterative restoration technique. To attain completeness, we also introduced the results obtained using a blind deconvolution algorithm based on the maximum likelihood estimation with unknown PSFs. The potential of the proposed approach has been demonstrated using both complex synthetic data and field data acquired at the Wisting oil field in the Barents Sea. In both cases, the resolution of the final inversion result was improved and showed greater agreement with the known target area

Improving Multiple Surface Range Estimation of a 3-Dimensional FLASH LADAR in the Presence of Atmospheric Turbulence

Laser Radar sensors can be designed to provide two-dimensional and three-dimensional (3-D) images of a scene from a single laser pulse. Currently, there are various data recording and presentation techniques being developed for 3-D sensors. While the technology is still being proven, many applications are being explored and suggested. As technological advancements are coupled with enhanced signal processing algorithms, it is possible that this technology will present exciting new military capabilities for sensor users. The goal of this work is to develop an algorithm to enhance the utility of 3-D Laser Radar sensors through accurate ranging to multiple surfaces per image pixel while minimizing the effects of diffraction. Via a new 3-D blind deconvolution algorithm, it will be possible to realize numerous enhancements over both traditional Gaussian mixture modeling and single surface range estimation. While traditional Gaussian mixture modeling can effectively model the received pulse, we know that its shape is likely altered due to optical aberrations from the imaging system and the medium through which it is imaging. Simulation examples show that the multi-surface ranging algorithm derived in this work improves range estimation over standard Gaussian mixture modeling and frame-by-frame deconvolution by up to 89% and 85% respectively