Redefining Night Vision: The Power of MSR-Driven Neural ISP

This paper addresses two key limitations in existing Image Signal Processing (ISP) approaches: the suboptimal performance in low-light conditions and the lack of trainability in traditional ISP methods. To tackle these issues, we propose a novel, trainable ISP framework that incorporates both the strengths of traditional ISP techniques and advanced Multi-Scale Retinex (MSR) algorithms for night-time enhancement. Our method consists of three primary components: an ISP-based Luminance Harmonization layer to initially optimize luminance levels in RAW data, a deep learning-based MSR layer for nuanced decomposition of image components, and a specialized enhancement layer for both precise, region-specific luminance enhancement and color denoising. The proposed approach is validated through rigorous experiments on machine vision benchmarks and objective visual quality indicators. Our results demonstrate not only a significant improvement over existing methods but also robust adaptability under diverse lighting conditions. This work offers a versatile ISP framework with promising applications beyond its immediate scope.