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A novel low complexity retinex-based algorithm for enhancing low-light images

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Abstract

Retinex-based algorithms, drawing inspiration from the human visual system biology, have emerged as favored techniques in literature for enhancing low-light images. These algorithms aim to mitigate the adverse effects of poor illumination conditions, such as- narrow gray range, low brightness, low contrast, color distortion, and noise- thereby rendering the images more suitable for both human observation and computer processing. This paper presents a low-complexity Improved Retinex-based Multi-Phase algorithm (IRBMP) designed specifically for low light image enhancement. Performance of the proposed algorithm is analysed on the benchmark low-light image dataset Ex-Dark in comparison to various state-of-the-art retinex-based as well as traditional algorithms- MSRCP, NPE, SRIE, RBMP, AHE, log-transform, gamma-transform, and adaptive-sigmoid-transfer-function(ASTF). The proposed algorithm outperforms the baseline RBMP as well as the comparison algorithms in both subjective and objective metrics, such as BRISQUE and NIQE, indicating improved image quality. Additionally, the proposed method demonstrates faster computational time in comparison to other Retinex-based approaches, making it a promising candidate for real-time image processing applications.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and the supplementary information is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their gratitude to anonymous reviewers, who contributed immensely with their critical comments in shaping the work. In addition, we acknowledge the support extended by the authors [33] for providing code of ASTF algorithm for comparison.

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  1. Giani Zail Singh Campus College of Engineering & Technology, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda (Pb), 151001, India

    Savina Bansal, R. K. Bansal & Rahul Bhardwaj

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  1. Savina Bansal
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  2. R. K. Bansal
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  3. Rahul Bhardwaj
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Correspondence to Savina Bansal.

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Bansal, S., Bansal, R.K. & Bhardwaj, R. A novel low complexity retinex-based algorithm for enhancing low-light images. Multimed Tools Appl 83, 29485–29504 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-16610-4

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