Automatic Suppression Method for Water Surface Glints Using a Division of Focal Plane Visible Polarimeter

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Image Processing
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Water surface glints significantly degrade underwater imaging quality.
• Existing methods struggle with dynamic scenes and strong glint interference.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel method for suppressing water surface glints.
• To improve the clarity and quality of underwater images using polarization principles.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a division of focal plane (DoFP) polarimeter for polarization imaging.
• Calculated optimal polarization angles and minimal gray-level images per pixel.
• Introduced an index 'E' to quantify image quality improvement.

Main Results:

• Achieved angle calculation errors within 10%, with a minimum error of 3%.
• Demonstrated a relative improvement of 8.00 in the 'E' index under strong glint conditions.
• Validated the method's effectiveness in both indoor and outdoor experiments.

Conclusions:

• The De-Glints method effectively suppresses water surface glints.
• The technique offers robust performance and adaptability to dynamic underwater environments.
• Polarization imaging provides a viable solution for clear underwater image acquisition.