Enhancing low contrast color images via pythagorean interval-valued fuzzy sets and CLAHE

Uma Maheswari S and Jagatheswari S

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: This study presents a pythagorean fuzzy set-based framework combined with contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) for low-light color image enhancement. Low-light color images often suffer from poor contrast, reduced visibility, and brightness distortion. To address these challenges, the proposed method employs pythagorean fuzzy sets to model pixel-level uncertainty more flexibly than conventional fuzzy representations. The method first transforms the input image into a pythagorean fuzzy image using a parameterized nonlinear membership mapping and then applies adaptive CLAHE to enhance contrast while preserving color fidelity. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach improves visual quality and achieves competitive quantitative performance compared with existing enhancement techniques. Performance is evaluated using entropy, absolute mean brightness error, contrast improvement index, correlation coefficient, structural similarity index, and the natural image quality evaluator. The results highlight the effectiveness of integrating pythagorean fuzzy uncertainty modeling with adaptive contrast enhancement for low-light color image processing.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0354362

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0354362

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