Image interpolation methods for division of focal plane polarimeters: a review

Abstract

In recent decades, polarization imaging has garnered much interest and research focus, due to its wide range of applications in the fields of atmospheric remote sensing, astronomy, biomedical and target detection, etc. Linear division-of-focal plane (DoFP) polarimeters deploying metal wire grid micro-polarization array as the polarization state analyzer (PSA) possess the capacity to capture polarization properties of the scene target during a single snapshot and benefit from their rugged and compact designs. However, these systems acquire the polarization measurements through spatial modulation and inevitably lead to spatial resolution loss, which cause instantaneous field of view (IFOV) errors and degradation of polarimetric accuracy. In response to this challenge, various interpolation/demosaicking methods tailored to DoFP imaging to fill the missing polarization information have emerged in recent years. This survey aims to explore these methods and briefly describe their effectiveness in enhancing the image restoration performance, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Lastly, according to current progress, some suggestions are made for high accuracy polarimetric measurements, especially for polarization remote sensing applications at different scales.