Development of a refined illumination and reflectance approach for optimal construction site interior image enhancement
ISSN: 1471-4175
Article publication date: 8 September 2022
Issue publication date: 13 February 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Images taken from construction site interiors often suffer from low illumination and poor natural colors, which restrict their application for high-level site management purposes. The state-of-the-art low-light image enhancement method provides promising image enhancement results. However, they generally require a longer execution time to complete the enhancement. This study aims to develop a refined image enhancement approach to improve execution efficiency and performance accuracy.
Design/methodology/approach
To develop the refined illumination enhancement algorithm named enhanced illumination quality (EIQ), a quadratic expression was first added to the initial illumination map. Subsequently, an adjusted weight matrix was added to improve the smoothness of the illumination map. A coordinated descent optimization algorithm was then applied to minimize the processing time. Gamma correction was also applied to further enhance the illumination map. Finally, a frame comparing and averaging method was used to identify interior site progress.
Findings
The proposed refined approach took around 4.36–4.52 s to achieve the expected results while outperforming the current low-light image enhancement method. EIQ demonstrated a lower lightness-order error and provided higher object resolution in enhanced images. EIQ also has a higher structural similarity index and peak-signal-to-noise ratio, which indicated better image reconstruction performance.
Originality/value
The proposed approach provides an alternative to shorten the execution time, improve equalization of the illumination map and provide a better image reconstruction. The approach could be applied to low-light video enhancement tasks and other dark or poor jobsite images for object detection processes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the 5D BIM Lab Research Fund and the Research Seed Funding Scheme by the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, at the University of Technology Sydney. The authors thank Biyanka Ekanayake for her assistance with the research background of this study.
Citation
Wong, J.K.W., Maghrebi, M., Ahmadian Fard Fini, A., Alizadeh Golestani, M.A., Ahmadnia, M. and Er, M. (2024), "Development of a refined illumination and reflectance approach for optimal construction site interior image enhancement", Construction Innovation, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 470-491. https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-02-2022-0044
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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