US Patent 11024013 Neural network based enhancement of intensity images

A generative adversarial network including a generator portion and a discriminator portion is constructed. The network is configured such that the network operates to enhance intensity images, wherein an intensity image is obtained by illuminating an object with an energy pulse and measuring the return strength of the energy pulse, and wherein a pixel of the intensity image corresponds to the return strength. As a part of the configuring, a loss function of the generative adversarial network is minimized, the loss function comprising a mean square error loss measurement of a noisy intensity image relative to a mean square error loss measurement of a corresponding clean intensity image. An enhanced intensity image is generated by applying the minimized loss function of the network to an original intensity image, the applying improving an image quality measurement of the enhanced intensity image relative to the original intensity image.