A Weighted Guided Filtering-Based Multidomain Fusion Destriping Method

Abstract

An infrared camera is affected by the photon effect, temperature changes, time drift and other factors when operating in orbit, which makes the ground non-uniformity correction coefficient invalid, resulting in non-uniformity stripes in the infrared images and restricting their practicality in further analysis and applications. Existing destriping methods often suffer from loss of image details and artifact generation. To solve this problem, we proposed a weighted guided filtering-based multidomain fusion destriping approach that leverages the structural, directional, and spectral characteristics of stripe noise. Firstly, we addressed the issue of artifacts caused by Fourier domain filtering through an adaptive filtering approach that employs a variable threshold to minimize filtering induced artifacts and obtain clearer guided images. Furthermore, capitalizing on the directional properties of wavelet decomposition effectively separates image information from stripe information. To integrate the advantages of both approaches, we employed a weighted guided filter to seamlessly fuse the guided image with the wavelet decomposition image. In terms of quantitative metrics, the proposed method generally beats the other five comparative methods, with significant improvements in image PSNR, SSIM, NIQE, and MRD, particularly for complex images where the enhancements were more pronounced. These experimental results collectively demonstrate the significant progress achieved by the proposed method in effectively reducing stripe noise, better preserving the original structural details of the image, and suppressing the occurrence of artifacts.Index Terms-stripe noise; thermal infrared; Fourier transform; wavelet decomposition; image fusion; weighted guided filter; I. INTRODUCTION n recent years, infrared remote sensing technology has made significant advancements, expanding its applications across various fields, such as urban management, environmental protection, and military operations. During orbit operation, however, the detector is affected by temperature, the photon effect, aging, and other factors, which can make the ground non-uniformity correction factor invalid, resulting in non-uniformity in the image. This non-uniformity typically manifests as fixed pattern noise [1]. Currently, this type of stripe noise exists mainly in either horizontal or vertical directions, due to the fact that most of the sensor readout circuits This paragraph of the first footnote will contain the date on which you submitted your paper for review, which is populated by IEEE. It is IEEE style to display support information.