Abstract
Recently, learning-based models have enhanced the performance of single-image super-resolution (SISR). However, applying SISR successively to each video frame leads to a lack of temporal coherency. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) outperform traditional approaches in terms of image quality metrics such as peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). On the other hand, generative adversarial networks (GANs) offer a competitive advantage by being able to mitigate the issue of a lack of finer texture details, usually seen with CNNs when super-resolving at large upscaling factors. We present iSeeBetter, a novel GAN-based spatio-temporal approach to video super-resolution (VSR) that renders temporally consistent super-resolution videos. iSeeBetter extracts spatial and temporal information from the current and neighboring frames using the concept of recurrent back-projection networks as its generator. Furthermore, to improve the “naturality” of the super-resolved output while eliminating artifacts seen with traditional algorithms, we utilize the discriminator from super-resolution generative adversarial network. Although mean squared error (MSE) as a primary loss-minimization objective improves PSNR/SSIM, these metrics may not capture fine details in the image resulting in misrepresentation of perceptual quality. To address this, we use a four-fold (MSE, perceptual, adversarial, and total-variation loss function. Our results demonstrate that iSeeBetter offers superior VSR fidelity and surpasses state-of-the-art performance.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Andrew Ng’s lab at Stanford University for their guidance on this project. In particular, the authors express their gratitude to Mohamed El-Geish for the idea-inducing brainstorming sessions throughout the project.
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Aman Chadha has held positions at some of the world’s leading semiconductor/product companies. He is currently based out of Cupertino (Silicon Valley), California and is currently pursuing his graduate studies in artificial intelligence from Stanford University. He has published in prestigious international journals and conferences, and has authored two books. His publications have garnered about 200 citations. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several international journals including IJATCA, IJLTET, IJCET, IJEACS, and IJRTER. He has served as a reviewer for IJEST, IJCST, IJCSEIT, and JESTEC. Aman graduated with an M.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an outstanding graduate student award in 2014 and his B.E. degree with distinction from the University of Mumbai in 2012. His research interests include computer vision (particularly, pattern recognition), artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer architecture. Aman has 18 publications to his credit.
John Britto is pursuing his M.S. degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed his B.E. degree in computer engineering from the University of Mumbai in 2018. His research interests lie in machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence.
M. Mani Roja is a full professor in the Electronics and Telecommunication Department at the University of Mumbai since the past 30 years. She received her Ph.D. degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering from Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University and her master degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering from the University of Mumbai. She has collaborated across the years in the fields of image processing, speech processing, and biometric recognition.
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Chadha, A., Britto, J. & Roja, M.M. iSeeBetter: Spatio-temporal video super-resolution using recurrent generative back-projection networks. Comp. Visual Media 6, 307–317 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41095-020-0175-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41095-020-0175-7