Algorithm for de-scattering 3D images from infrared time-of-flight(ToF) cameras

An algorithm for mitigating the interference of scattering media in Time of Flight (ToF) cameras during imaging is proposed. This algorithm addresses the issues of decreased image quality, reduced contrast, and loss of depth information. The method is based on atmospheric background light prior knowledge and outlier handling. Firstly, a threshold segmentation is applied to the depth histogram of the image to eliminate the interference of backscattered light. Secondly, an image restoration algorithm based on the atmospheric background light prior is used to remove interference from the image. Finally, outliers in the restored image are removed to obtain the final processed image. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves the peak signal-to-noise ratio, structural similarity, image information entropy, and the number of matched feature points by an average of 9.21 dB, 10.02%, 0.83, and 12, respectively, compared to the original algorithm. This validates the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm.