Experimental approach to single-image dehazing and color restoration of foggy scenes

Navigating fog-obscured environments poses a significant challenge, especially for advanced technologies like driver-assistance systems, due to severely impaired visibility and distorted object colors. To address this, we conducted, to our knowledge, a novel study investigating color degradation in a controlled artificial fog chamber, systematically varying fog depth (30-70 cm) and density (expressed in MOR of 55-300 cm) using a puzzle cube featuring a variety of color blocks as a color target. To restore color in foggy images, we developed a hybrid single-image dehazing technique uniquely incorporating experimentally derived, MOR-dependent color decay models. (c) 2025 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved.