Noise2Kernel: Adaptive Self-Supervised Blind Denoising Using a Dilated Convolutional Kernel Architecture

With the advent of unsupervised learning, efficient training of a deep network for image denoising without pairs of noisy and clean images has become feasible. Most current unsupervised denoising methods are built on self-supervised loss with the assumption of zero-mean noise under the signal-independent condition, which causes brightness-shifting artifacts on unconventional noise statistics (i.e., different from commonly used noise models). Moreover, most blind denoising methods require a random masking scheme for training to ensure the invariance of the denoising process. In this study, we propose a dilated convolutional network that satisfies an invariant property, allowing efficient kernel-based training without random masking. We also propose an adaptive self-supervision loss to increase the tolerance for unconventional noise, which is specifically effective in removing salt-and-pepper or hybrid noise where prior knowledge of noise statistics is not readily available. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method by comparing it with state-of-the-art denoising methods using various examples.