Monte Carlo based angular distribution estimation method of multiply scattered photons for underwater imaging

•A Monte Carlo-based angular distribution (AD) estimation method of multiply scattered photons for underwater imaging is proposed.•The proposed method is based on modifying typical MC methods to combine all the points on a spherical surface.•Our method does not need spatial and angular discretization, which is required in solving the radiative transfer equation (RTE) with numerical methods.•The required number of photons by MC methods is dramatically reduced by combining all the points with the same properties.

This paper proposes a Monte Carlo (MC) based angular distribution estimation method of multiply scattered photons for underwater imaging. This method targets on turbid waters. Our method is based on applying typical Monte Carlo ideas to the present problem by combining all the points on a spherical surface. The proposed method is validated with the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation (RTE). The simulation results based on typical optical parameters of turbid waters show that the proposed method is effective in terms of computational speed and sensitivity.