# GRIDS: Grouped Multiple-Degradation Restoration with Image Degradation Similarity

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12273 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12273/

## Key facts

- Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 43 of its 57 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Jul 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 43)

- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Photo-Realistic Single Image Super-Resolution Using a Generative Adversarial Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04802/) (2016)
- [SwinIR: Image Restoration Using Swin Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10257/) (2021)
- [Restormer: Efficient Transformer for High-Resolution Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.09881/) (2021)
- [Beyond a Gaussian Denoiser: Residual Learning of Deep CNN for Image Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.03981/) (2016)
- [Image Super-Resolution Using Very Deep Residual Channel Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.02758/) (2018)
- [Gradient Surgery for Multi-Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.06782/) (2020)
- [Real-ESRGAN: Training Real-World Blind Super-Resolution with Pure Synthetic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10833/) (2021)
- [Uformer: A General U-Shaped Transformer for Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.03106/) (2021)
- [A Survey on Multi-Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.08114/) (2017)
- [Multi-Task Learning as Multi-Objective Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04650/) (2018)
- [An Overview of Multi-Task Learning in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05098/) (2017)
- [Taskonomy: Disentangling Task Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08328/) (2018)
- [Designing a Practical Degradation Model for Deep Blind Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14006/) (2021)
- [FFDNet: Toward a Fast and Flexible Solution for CNN based Image Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.04026/) (2017)
- [Cross-stitch Networks for Multi-task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.03539/) (2016)
- [Conflict-Averse Gradient Descent for Multi-task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14048/) (2021)
- [Activating More Pixels in Image Super-Resolution Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04437/) (2022)
- [Toward Real-World Single Image Super-Resolution: A New Benchmark and A New Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.00523/) (2019)
- [Which Tasks Should Be Learned Together in Multi-task Learning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.07553/) (2019)
- [DeblurGAN-v2: Deblurring (Orders-of-Magnitude) Faster and Better](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.03826/) (2019)
- [Scale-recurrent Network for Deep Image Deblurring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.01770/) (2018)
- [Efficiently Identifying Task Groupings for Multi-Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.04617/) (2021)
- [MAT: Mask-Aware Transformer for Large Hole Image Inpainting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.15270/) (2022)
- [Just Pick a Sign: Optimizing Deep Multitask Models with Gradient Sign Dropout](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.06808/) (2020)
- [UberNet: Training a `Universal' Convolutional Neural Network for Low-, Mid-, and High-Level Vision using Diverse Datasets and Limited Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02132/) (2016)
- [Deblurring by Realistic Blurring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.01860/) (2020)
- [Unsupervised Degradation Representation Learning for Blind Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00416/) (2021)
- [RankSRGAN: Generative Adversarial Networks with Ranker for Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06382/) (2019)
- [NDDR-CNN: Layerwise Feature Fusing in Multi-Task CNNs by Neural Discriminative Dimensionality Reduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.08297/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [A Survey on All-in-One Image Restoration: Taxonomy, Evaluation and Future Trends](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.15067/) (2024)
- [ArtiMuse: Fine-Grained Image Aesthetics Assessment with Joint Scoring and Expert-Level Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14533/) (2025)
- [FoundIR: Unleashing Million-scale Training Data to Advance Foundation Models for Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.01427/) (2024)
- [Decoupled Distillation to Erase: A General Unlearning Method for Any Class-centric Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23751/) (2025)
- [UniRestorer: Universal Image Restoration via Adaptively Estimating Image Degradation at Proper Granularity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.20157/) (2024)
- [FoundIR-v2: Optimizing Pre-Training Data Mixtures for Image Restoration Foundation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09282/) (2025)
- [UARE: A Unified Vision-Language Model for Image Quality Assessment, Restoration, and Enhancement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.06750/) (2025)
- [DiffSR: Learning Radar Reflectivity Synthesis via Diffusion Model from Satellite Observations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.06714/) (2024)
- [PhyDAE: Physics-Guided Degradation-Adaptive Experts for All-in-One Remote Sensing Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.08653/) (2025)
- [TPGDiff: Hierarchical Triple-Prior Guided Diffusion for Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.20306/) (2026)
- [FGTBT: Frequency-Guided Task-Balancing Transformer for Unified Facial Landmark Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.12863/) (2026)
- [Self-supervised Dynamic Heterogeneous Degradation Modeling for Unified Zero-Shot Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24593/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Traditional single-task image restoration methods excel in handling specific degradation types but struggle with multiple degradations. To address this limitation, we propose Grouped Restoration with Image Degradation Similarity (GRIDS), a novel approach that harmonizes the competing objectives inherent in multiple-degradation restoration. We first introduce a quantitative method for assessing relationships between image degradations using statistical modeling of deep degradation representations. This analysis facilitates the strategic grouping of similar tasks, enhancing both the efficiency and effectiveness of the restoration process. Based on the degradation similarity, GRIDS divides restoration tasks into one of the optimal groups, where tasks within the same group are highly correlated. For instance, GRIDS effectively groups 11 degradation types into 4 cohesive groups. Trained models within each group show significant improvements, with an average improvement of 0.09dB over single-task upper bound models and 2.24dB over the mix-training baseline model. GRIDS incorporates an adaptive model selection mechanism for inference, automatically selecting the appropriate grouped-training model based on the input degradation. This mechanism is particularly useful for real-world scenarios with unknown degradations as it does not rely on explicit degradation classification modules. Furthermore, our method can predict model generalization ability without the need for network inference, providing valuable insights for practitioners.