abstract = "Restoring hazy images is challenging since it must
account for several physical factors that are related
to the image formation process. Existing analytical
methods can only provide partial solutions because they
rely on assumptions that may not be valid in practice.
This research presents an effective method for
restoring hazy images based on genetic programming.
Using basic mathematical operators several computer
programs that estimate the medium transmission function
of hazy scenes are automatically evolved. Afterwards,
image restoration is performed using the estimated
transmission function in a physics-based restoration
model. The proposed estimators are optimized with
respect to the mean-absolute-error. Thus, the effects
of haze are effectively removed while minimizing over
processing artefacts. The performance of the evolved GP
estimators given in terms of objective metrics and a
subjective visual criterion, is evaluated on synthetic
and real-life hazy images. Comparisons are carried out
with state-of-the-art methods, showing that the evolved
estimators can outperform these methods without
incurring a loss in efficiency, and in most scenarios
achieving improved performance that is statistically
significant.",