Polarization State Attention Dehazing Network With a Simulated Polar-Haze Dataset

Image dehazing under harsh weather conditions remains a challenging and ill-posed problem. In addition, acquiring real-time haze-free counterparts of hazy images poses difficulties. Existing approaches commonly synthesize hazy data by relying on estimated depth information, which is prone to errors due to its physical unreliability. While generative networks can transfer some hazy features to clear images, the resulting hazy images still exhibit an artificial appearance. In this paper, we introduce polarization cues to propose a haze simulation strategy to synthesize hazy data, ensuring visually pleasing results that adhere to physical laws. Leveraging on the simulated Polar-Haze dataset, we present a polarization state attention dehazing network (PSADNet), which consists of a polarization extraction module and a polarization dehazing module. The proposed polarization extraction model incorporates an attention mechanism to capture high-level image features related to polarization and chromaticity. The polarization dehazing module utilizes these features derived from the polarization analysis to enhance image dehazing capabilities while preserving the accuracy of the polarization information. Promising results are observed in both qualitative and quantitative experiments, supporting the effectiveness of the proposed PSADNet and the validity of polarization-based haze simulation strategy. 2024 IEEE. All rights reserved.