Unveiling the Invisible: Enhanced Detection and Analysis of Deteriorated Areas in Solar PV Modules Using Unsupervised Sensing Algorithms and 3D Augmented Reality

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is increasingly being used to address the global concern of energy security. However, hot spot and snail trails in PV modules caused mostly by crakes reduce their efficiency and power capacity. This article presents a groundbreaking methodology for automatically identifying and analyzing anomalies like hot spots and snail trails in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) modules, leveraging unsupervised sensing algorithms and 3D Augmented Reality (AR) visualization. By transforming the traditional methods of diagnosis and repair, our approach not only enhances efficiency but also substantially cuts down the cost of PV system maintenance. Validated through computer simulations and real-world image datasets, the proposed framework accurately identifies dirty regions, emphasizing the critical role of regular maintenance in optimizing the power capacity of solar PV modules. Our immediate objective is to leverage drone technology for real-time, automatic solar panel detection, significantly boosting the efficacy of PV maintenance. The proposed methodology could revolutionize solar PV maintenance, enabling swift, precise anomaly detection without human intervention. This could result in significant cost savings, heightened energy production, and improved overall performance of solar PV systems. Moreover, the novel combination of unsupervised sensing algorithms with 3D AR visualization heralds new opportunities for further research and development in solar PV maintenance.

QSAM-Net: Rain streak removal by quaternion neural network with self-attention module

Images captured in real-world applications in remote sensing, image or video retrieval, and outdoor surveillance suffer degraded quality introduced by poor weather conditions. Conditions such as rain and mist, introduce artifacts that make visual analysis challenging and limit the performance of high-level computer vision methods. For time-critical applications where a rapid response is necessary, it becomes crucial to develop algorithms that automatically remove rain, without diminishing the quality of the image contents. This article aims to develop a novel quaternion multi-stage multiscale neural network with a self-attention module called QSAM-Net to remove rain streaks. The novelty of this algorithm is that it requires significantly fewer parameters by a factor of 3.98, over prior methods, while improving visual quality. This is demonstrated by the extensive evaluation and benchmarking on synthetic and real-world rainy images. This feature of QSAM-Net makes the network suitable for implementation on edge devices and applications requiring near real-time performance. The experiments demonstrate that by improving the visual quality of images. In addition, object detection accuracy and training speed are also improved.

Weighted Histogram Equalization Using Entropy of Probability Density Function

Low-contrast image enhancement is essential for high-quality image display and other visual applications. However, it is a challenging task as the enhancement is expected to increase the visibility of an image while maintaining its naturalness. In this paper, the weighted histogram equalization using the entropy of the probability density function is proposed. The computation of the local mapping functions utilizes the relationship between non-height bin and height bin distributions. Finally, the complete tone mapping function is produced by concatenating local mapping functions. Computer simulation results on the CSIQ dataset demonstrate that the proposed method produces images with higher visibility and visual quality, which outperforms traditional and recently proposed contrast enhancement algorithms methods in qualitative and quantitative metrics.

A New Randomness Evaluation Method with Applications to Image Shuffling and Encryption

This letter discusses the problem of testing the degree of randomness within an image, particularly for a shuffled or encrypted image. Its key contributions are: 1) a mathematical model of perfectly shuffled images; 2) the derivation of the theoretical distribution of pixel differences; 3) a new $Z$-test based approach to differentiate whether or not a test image is perfectly shuffled; and 4) a randomized algorithm to unbiasedly evaluate the degree of randomness within a given image. Simulation results show that the proposed method is robust and effective in evaluating the degree of randomness within an image, and may often be more suitable for image applications than commonly used testing schemes designed for binary data like NIST 800-22. The developed method may be also useful as a first step in determining whether or not a shuffling or encryption scheme is suitable for a particular cryptographic application.