Study on Infrared Image Enhancement Based on Adaptive Nonlinear Filtering

A novel effective algorithm for enhancing infrared image quality is presented which is based on a special combination of an adaptive nonlinear filter and histogram equalization. Nonlinear filtering technique is used for the suppression of noise, and the image enhancement procession is implemented after the suppression of noise of infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA) by using histogram equalization. The new method can both suppress the noise effectively of IRFPA and increase the contrast of the infrared image in order to improve infrared image quality. Simulations indicate that the infrared image signals details and edges are preserved and the vision effect is ideal after the new method processing.