Research of the underwater polarization imaging process based on the Oren-Nayar polarization bidirectional reflection distribution function.

Abstract

The complex water environment makes the underwater imaging process very variable. For a more intuitive understanding of the underwater imaging process, in this paper, the Monte Carlo algorithm is combined with the Oren-Nayar polarization bidirectional reflection function to establish a visualization model of underwater laser polarization imaging. The model fully considers the specular reflection and diffuse reflection effects of the target surface. The Oren-Nayar model compensates for the deficiencies of the Lambert model in describing the diffuse reflection of target surfaces. The method is applied to analyze the effect of diffuse reflection on the laser polarization characteristics. The imaging process of high-polarized underwater targets and low-polarized underwater targets is simulated, and the effect of suspended particles on underwater optical transmission characteristics and underwater imaging is analyzed. The variation of backscattering light and system polarization characteristics with medium concentration is investigated in the simulation and experiment, respectively. The results show that the simulated images and experimental images have the same characteristics and change rules, indicating that the model can simulate the process of underwater polarization imaging correctly.