Unpaired Image Dehazing via Kolmogorov-Arnold Transformation of Latent Features

Abstract

This paper proposes an innovative framework for Unsupervised Image Dehazing via Kolmogorov-Arnold Transformation, termed UID-KAT. Image dehazing is recognized as a challenging and ill-posed vision task that requires complex transformations and interpretations in the feature space. Recent advancements have introduced Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs), inspired by the Kolmogorov-Arnold representation theorem, as promising alternatives to Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs) since KANs can leverage their polynomial foundation to more efficiently approximate complex functions while requiring fewer layers than MLPs. Motivated by this potential, this paper explores the use of KANs combined with adversarial training and contrastive learning to model the intricate relationship between hazy and clear images. Adversarial training is employed due to its capacity in producing high-fidelity images, and contrastive learning promotes the model's emphasis on significant features while suppressing the influence of irrelevant information. The proposed UID-KAT framework is trained in an unsupervised setting to take advantage of the abundance of real-world data and address the challenge of preparing paired hazy/clean images. Experimental results show that UID-KAT achieves state-of-the-art dehazing performance across multiple datasets and scenarios, outperforming existing unpaired methods while reducing model complexity. The source code for this work is publicly available at https://github.com/tranleanh/uid-kat.