Optimal estimation of spectral reflectance based on metamerism

In this paper, we proposed an accurate estimation method for spectral reflectance of objects captured in an image. The spectral reflectance is simply modeled by a linear combination of three basic spectrums of R, G, and B colors respectively, named as spectral reflective bases of objects, which are acquired by solving a linear system based on the principle of color metamerism. Some experiments were performed to evaluate the accuracy of the estimated spectral reflectance of objects. The average mean square error of 24 colors in Macbeth checker between we simulated and the measured is 0.0866, and the maximum is 0.310. In addition, the average color difference of the 24 colors is less than 1.5 under the D65 illuminant. There are 13 colors having their color difference values less than 1, and other 8 colors having the values during the range of 1 and 2. Only three colors are relatively larger, with the differences of 2.558, 4.130 and 2.569, from the colors of No. 2, No. 13, and No. 18 in Macbeth checker respectively. Furthermore, the computational cost of this spectral estimation is very low and suitable for many practical applications in real time.