A Novel No-Reference Image Quality Metric For Assessing Sharpness In Satellite Imagery

TL;DR

This paper presents a new no-reference image sharpness metric tailored for satellite imagery that is robust, efficient, and aligns well with human perception, enabling reliable quality assessment without reference images.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel gradient decay-based sharpness metric specifically designed for satellite images, improving robustness and computational efficiency over existing methods.

Findings

Demonstrates high correlation with human perception of sharpness

Outperforms conventional metrics in satellite image quality assessment

Provides a fast, reference-free sharpness scoring method

Abstract

This study introduces a novel no-reference image quality metric aimed at assessing image sharpness. Designed to be robust against variations in noise, exposure, contrast, and image content, it measures the normalized decay rate of gradients along pronounced edges, offering an objective method for sharpness evaluation without reference images. Primarily developed for satellite imagery to align with human visual perception of sharpness, this metric supports monitoring and quality characterization of satellite fleets. It demonstrates significant utility and superior performance in consistency with human perception across various image types and operational conditions. Unlike conventional metrics, this heuristic approach provides a way to score images from lower to higher sharpness, making it a reliable and versatile tool for enhancing quality assessment processes without the need for pristine or ground truth comparison. Additionally, this metric is computationally efficient compared to deep learning analysis, ensuring faster and more resource-effective sharpness evaluations.