Fast single image dehazing with domain transformation-based edge-preserving filter and weighted quadtree subdivision

In this paper, we propose a fast single image dehazing algorithm using domain transformation-based edge-preserving filter and weighed quadtree subdivision. The proposed algorithm first estimates the atmospheric light in the minimal component of the haze image based on the weighed quadtree subdivision. Since the dark channel prior is invalid when the scene objects are with similar intensity to the atmospheric light, we then modify the transmission map to improve the adaptability of the algorithm. Due to the observation that haze is widely spread in the hazy image, the transmission map should be smoothly changed over the scene. The proposed algorithm utilizes the domain transformation-based edge-preserving filter to smooth the details and preserve edges and corners, aiming to obtain the refined transmission map. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm produces comparative or even better results compared to the state-of-the-art methods but with much higher computational efficiency.