TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism

Drone detection is a significant research topic due to the potential security threats posed by the misuse of drones in both civilian and military domains. However, traditional drone detection methods are challenged by the drastic scale changes and complex ambiguity during drone flight, and it is dif...

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Main Authors: Yuliang Zhao, Zhongjie Ju, Tianang Sun, Fanghecong Dong, Jian Li, Ruige Yang, Qiang Fu, Chao Lian, Peng Shan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Drones
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/7/446
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author Yuliang Zhao
Zhongjie Ju
Tianang Sun
Fanghecong Dong
Jian Li
Ruige Yang
Qiang Fu
Chao Lian
Peng Shan
author_facet Yuliang Zhao
Zhongjie Ju
Tianang Sun
Fanghecong Dong
Jian Li
Ruige Yang
Qiang Fu
Chao Lian
Peng Shan
author_sort Yuliang Zhao
collection DOAJ
description Drone detection is a significant research topic due to the potential security threats posed by the misuse of drones in both civilian and military domains. However, traditional drone detection methods are challenged by the drastic scale changes and complex ambiguity during drone flight, and it is difficult to detect small target drones quickly and efficiently. We propose an information-enhanced model based on improved YOLOv5 (TGC-YOLOv5) for fast and accurate detection of small target drones in complex environments. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: First, the Transformer encoder module is incorporated into YOLOv5 to augment attention toward the regions of interest. Second, the Global Attention Mechanism (GAM) is embraced to mitigate information diffusion among distinct layers and amplify the global cross-dimensional interaction features. Finally, the Coordinate Attention Mechanism (CA) is incorporated into the bottleneck part of C3, enhancing the extraction capability of local information for small targets. To enhance and verify the robustness and generalization of the model, a small target drone dataset (SUAV-DATA) is constructed in all-weather, multi-scenario, and complex environments. The experimental results show that based on the SUAV-DATA dataset, the AP value of TGC-YOLOv5 reaches 0.848, which is 2.5% higher than the original YOLOv5, and the Recall value of TGC-YOLOv5 reaches 0.823, which is a 3.8% improvement over the original YOLOv5. The robustness of our proposed model is also verified on the Real-World open-source image dataset, achieving the best accuracy in light, fog, stain, and saturation pollution images. The findings and methods of this paper have important significance and value for improving the efficiency and precision of drone detection.
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spelling doaj.art-24409de2c0d7435a94c091c9c5e51e882023-11-18T19:01:12ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2023-07-017744610.3390/drones7070446TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention MechanismYuliang Zhao0Zhongjie Ju1Tianang Sun2Fanghecong Dong3Jian Li4Ruige Yang5Qiang Fu6Chao Lian7Peng Shan8School of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaShijiazhuang Campus of Army Engineer University, Shijiazhuang 050003, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaSchool of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaDrone detection is a significant research topic due to the potential security threats posed by the misuse of drones in both civilian and military domains. However, traditional drone detection methods are challenged by the drastic scale changes and complex ambiguity during drone flight, and it is difficult to detect small target drones quickly and efficiently. We propose an information-enhanced model based on improved YOLOv5 (TGC-YOLOv5) for fast and accurate detection of small target drones in complex environments. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: First, the Transformer encoder module is incorporated into YOLOv5 to augment attention toward the regions of interest. Second, the Global Attention Mechanism (GAM) is embraced to mitigate information diffusion among distinct layers and amplify the global cross-dimensional interaction features. Finally, the Coordinate Attention Mechanism (CA) is incorporated into the bottleneck part of C3, enhancing the extraction capability of local information for small targets. To enhance and verify the robustness and generalization of the model, a small target drone dataset (SUAV-DATA) is constructed in all-weather, multi-scenario, and complex environments. The experimental results show that based on the SUAV-DATA dataset, the AP value of TGC-YOLOv5 reaches 0.848, which is 2.5% higher than the original YOLOv5, and the Recall value of TGC-YOLOv5 reaches 0.823, which is a 3.8% improvement over the original YOLOv5. The robustness of our proposed model is also verified on the Real-World open-source image dataset, achieving the best accuracy in light, fog, stain, and saturation pollution images. The findings and methods of this paper have important significance and value for improving the efficiency and precision of drone detection.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/7/446drone detectionsmall target dronesYOLOv5TransformerGAMCA
spellingShingle Yuliang Zhao
Zhongjie Ju
Tianang Sun
Fanghecong Dong
Jian Li
Ruige Yang
Qiang Fu
Chao Lian
Peng Shan
TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
Drones
drone detection
small target drones
YOLOv5
Transformer
GAM
CA
title TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
title_full TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
title_fullStr TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
title_full_unstemmed TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
title_short TGC-YOLOv5: An Enhanced YOLOv5 Drone Detection Model Based on Transformer, GAM & CA Attention Mechanism
title_sort tgc yolov5 an enhanced yolov5 drone detection model based on transformer gam ca attention mechanism
topic drone detection
small target drones
YOLOv5
Transformer
GAM
CA
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/7/446
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