Deep underwater image compression for enhanced machine vision applications

Underwater image compression is fundamental in underwater visual applications. The storage resources of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and underwater cameras are limited. By employing effective image compression methods, it is possible to optimize the resource utilization of these devices, thereby extending the operational time underwater. Current image compression methods neglect the unique characteristics of the underwater environment, thus failing to support downstream underwater visual tasks efficiently. We propose a novel underwater image compression framework that integrates frequency priors and feature decomposition fusion in response to these challenges. Our framework incorporates a task-driven feature decomposition fusion module (FDFM). This module enables the network to understand and preserve machine-friendly information during the compression process, prioritizing task relevance over human visual perception. Additionally, we propose a frequency-guided underwater image correction module (UICM) to address noise issues and accurately identify redundant information, enhancing the overall compression process. Our framework effectively preserves machine-friendly features at a low bit rate. Extensive experiments across various downstream visual tasks, including object detection, semantic segmentation, and saliency detection, consistently demonstrated significant improvements achieved by our approach.