Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving

Graph neural networks (GNNs) have been proven to be an ideal approach to deal with irregular point clouds, but involve massive computations for searching neighboring points in the graph, which limits their application in large-scale LiDAR point cloud processing. Down-sampling is a straightforward an...

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Main Authors: Zhenming Liang, Yingping Huang, Yanbiao Bai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-02-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/5/1458
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author Zhenming Liang
Yingping Huang
Yanbiao Bai
author_facet Zhenming Liang
Yingping Huang
Yanbiao Bai
author_sort Zhenming Liang
collection DOAJ
description Graph neural networks (GNNs) have been proven to be an ideal approach to deal with irregular point clouds, but involve massive computations for searching neighboring points in the graph, which limits their application in large-scale LiDAR point cloud processing. Down-sampling is a straightforward and indispensable step in current GNN-based 3D detectors to reduce the computational burden of the model, but the commonly used down-sampling methods cannot distinguish the categories of the LiDAR points, which leads to an inability to effectively improve the computational efficiency of the GNN models without affecting their detection accuracy. In this paper, we propose (1) a LiDAR point cloud pre-segmented down-sampling (PSD) method that can selectively reduce background points while preserving the foreground object points during the process, greatly improving the computational efficiency of the model without affecting its 3D detection accuracy. (2) A lightweight GNN-based 3D detector that can extract point features and detect objects from the raw down-sampled LiDAR point cloud directly without any pre-transformation. We test the proposed model on the KITTI 3D Object Detection Benchmark, and the results demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency for autonomous driving 3D object detection.
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spelling doaj.art-8b86a6e781424ddb9a3465caae77a2ee2024-03-12T16:54:50ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202024-02-01245145810.3390/s24051458Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous DrivingZhenming Liang0Yingping Huang1Yanbiao Bai2School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaSchool of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaSchool of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaGraph neural networks (GNNs) have been proven to be an ideal approach to deal with irregular point clouds, but involve massive computations for searching neighboring points in the graph, which limits their application in large-scale LiDAR point cloud processing. Down-sampling is a straightforward and indispensable step in current GNN-based 3D detectors to reduce the computational burden of the model, but the commonly used down-sampling methods cannot distinguish the categories of the LiDAR points, which leads to an inability to effectively improve the computational efficiency of the GNN models without affecting their detection accuracy. In this paper, we propose (1) a LiDAR point cloud pre-segmented down-sampling (PSD) method that can selectively reduce background points while preserving the foreground object points during the process, greatly improving the computational efficiency of the model without affecting its 3D detection accuracy. (2) A lightweight GNN-based 3D detector that can extract point features and detect objects from the raw down-sampled LiDAR point cloud directly without any pre-transformation. We test the proposed model on the KITTI 3D Object Detection Benchmark, and the results demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency for autonomous driving 3D object detection.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/5/14583D object detectionautonomous drivingLiDAR point cloud down-samplinggraph neural network
spellingShingle Zhenming Liang
Yingping Huang
Yanbiao Bai
Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
Sensors
3D object detection
autonomous driving
LiDAR point cloud down-sampling
graph neural network
title Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
title_full Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
title_fullStr Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
title_full_unstemmed Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
title_short Pre-Segmented Down-Sampling Accelerates Graph Neural Network-Based 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving
title_sort pre segmented down sampling accelerates graph neural network based 3d object detection in autonomous driving
topic 3D object detection
autonomous driving
LiDAR point cloud down-sampling
graph neural network
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/5/1458
work_keys_str_mv AT zhenmingliang presegmenteddownsamplingacceleratesgraphneuralnetworkbased3dobjectdetectioninautonomousdriving
AT yingpinghuang presegmenteddownsamplingacceleratesgraphneuralnetworkbased3dobjectdetectioninautonomousdriving
AT yanbiaobai presegmenteddownsamplingacceleratesgraphneuralnetworkbased3dobjectdetectioninautonomousdriving