Despeckling structural loss(DSL): A new metric for measuring structure-preserving capability of despeckling algorithms

In this paper, a new metric called despeckling structural loss(DSL) is proposed for performance assessment of despeckling algorithms with a focus on the preservation of structural information. By taking into account characteristics of the best and worst structure preservation in despeckling, the DSL metric examines the presence of image structures in ratio images by using local correlations between the ratio image and the noise-free reference image at edge points, leading an objective and quantitative measure of the structure-preserving capability of despeckling algorithms. The DSL metric has been tested on despeckling results of a simulated SAR image using three types of algorithms and efficiency of the DSL has been demonstrated. In comparison, the other five commonly used despeckling metrics fail to keep a consistency with the structural loss shown in despeckling results as well as ratio images.