Search Results (157)

Objectives: Spinal diseases are commonly encountered health problems with a wide spectrum. In addition to degenerative changes, other common spinal pathologies include metastases and compression fractures. Benign tumors like hemangiomas and infections such as spondylodiscitis are also frequently observed. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered the gold standard in diagnostic imaging, the morphological similarities of lesions can pose significant challenges in differential diagnoses. In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence applications in medical imaging has become increasingly widespread. In this study, we aim to detect and classify vertebral body lesions using the YOLO-v8 (You Only Look Once, version 8) deep learning architecture. Materials and Methods: This study included MRI data from 235 patients with vertebral body lesions. The dataset comprised sagittal T1- and T2-weighted sequences. The diagnostic categories consisted of acute compression fractures, metastases, hemangiomas, atypical hemangiomas, and spondylodiscitis. For automated detection and classification of vertebral lesions, the YOLOv8 deep learning model was employed. Following image standardization and data augmentation, a total of 4179 images were generated. The dataset was randomly split into training (80%) and validation (20%) subsets. Additionally, an independent test set was constructed using MRI images from 54 patients who were not included in the training or validation phases to evaluate the model’s performance. Results: In the test, the YOLOv8 model achieved classification accuracies of 0.84 and 0.85 for T1- and T2-weighted MRI sequences, respectively. Among the diagnostic categories, spondylodiscitis had the highest accuracy in the T1 dataset (0.94), while acute compression fractures were most accurately detected in the T2 dataset (0.93). Hemangiomas exhibited the lowest classification accuracy in both modalities (0.73). The F1 scores were calculated as 0.83 for T1-weighted and 0.82 for T2-weighted sequences at optimal confidence thresholds. The model’s mean average precision (mAP) 0.5 values were 0.82 for T1 and 0.86 for T2 datasets, indicating high precision in lesion detection. Conclusions: The YOLO-v8 deep learning model we used demonstrates effective performance in distinguishing vertebral body metastases from different groups of benign pathologies. Full article

In the process of high-speed wire rod production, flying steel accidents may occur due to various reasons. Current detection methods relying on sensors like hardware make debugging complex as well as limit real-time and accuracy. These methods are complicated to debug, and the real-time and accuracy of detection are poor. Therefore, this paper proposes a flying steel detection method based on improved You Only Look Once v8 (YOLOv8), which can realize high-precision flying steel detection based on machine vision through the monitoring video of the production site. Firstly, the Omni-dimensional Dynamic Convolution (ODConv) is added to the backbone network to improve the feature extraction ability of the input image. Then, a lightweight C2f-PCCA_RVB module is proposed to be integrated into the neck network, so as to carry out the lightweight design of the neck network. Finally, the Efficient Multi-Scale Attention (EMA) module is added to the neck network to fuse the context information of different scales and improve the feature extraction ability. The experimental results show that the average accuracy (mAP@0.5) of the flying steel detection method based on the improved YOLOv8 is 99.1%, and the latency is reduced to 2.5 ms, which can realize the real-time accurate detection of the flying steel. Full article

Small-object detection in images, a core task in unstructured big-data analysis, remains challenging due to low resolution, background noise, and occlusion. Despite advancements in object detection models like You Only Look Once (YOLO) v8 and EfficientDet, small object detection still faces limitations. This study proposes an enhanced approach combining the content-aware reassembly of features (CARAFE) upsampling module and a confidence-based re-detection (CR) technique integrated with the YOLOv8n model to address these challenges. The CARAFE module is applied to the neck architecture of YOLOv8n to minimize information loss and enhance feature restoration by adaptively generating upsampling kernels based on the input feature map. Furthermore, the CR process involves cropping bounding boxes of small objects with low confidence scores from the original image and re-detecting them using the YOLOv8n-CARAFE model to improve detection performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the baseline YOLOv8n model in detecting small objects. These findings highlight the effectiveness of combining advanced upsampling and post-processing techniques for improved small object detection. The proposed method holds promise for practical applications, including surveillance systems, autonomous driving, and medical image analysis. Full article

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image ship detection faces challenges such as distinguishing ships from other terrains and structures, especially in specific marine complex environments. The motivation behind this work is to enhance detection accuracy while minimizing false positives, which is crucial for applications like defense vessel monitoring and civilian search and rescue operations. To achieve this goal, we propose several architectural improvements to You Only Look Once version 8 Nano (YOLOv8n) and present Small Target-YOLOv8(ST-YOLOv8)—a novel lightweight SAR ship detection model based on the enhance YOLOv8n framework. The C2f module in the backbone’s transition sections is replaced by the Conv_Online Reparameterized Convolution (C_OREPA) module, reducing convolutional complexity and improving efficiency. The Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) module is added to the end of the backbone to extract finer features from smaller and more complex ship targets. In the neck network, the Shuffle Attention (SA) module is employed before each upsampling step to improve upsampling quality. Additionally, we replace the Complete Intersection over Union (C-IoU) loss function with the Wise Intersection over Union (W-IoU) loss function, which enhances bounding box precision. We conducted ablation experiments on two widely used multimodal SAR datasets. The proposed model significantly outperforms the YOLOv8n baseline, achieving 94.1% accuracy, 82% recall, and 87.6% F1 score on the SAR Ship Detection Dataset (SSDD), and 92.7% accuracy, 84.5% recall, and 88.1% F1 score on the SAR Ship Dataset_v0 dataset (SSDv0). Furthermore, the ST-YOLOv8 model outperforms several state-of-the-art multi-scale ship detection algorithms on both datasets. In summary, the ST-YOLOv8 model, by integrating advanced neural network architectures and optimization techniques, significantly improves detection accuracy and reduces false detection rates. This makes it highly suitable for complex backgrounds and multi-scale ship detection. Future work will focus on lightweight model optimization for deployment on mobile platforms to broaden its applicability across different scenarios. Full article

Object detection in complex road scenes is vital for autonomous driving, facing challenges such as object occlusion, small target sizes, and irregularly shaped targets. To address these issues, this paper introduces DGSS-YOLOv8s, a model designed to enhance detection accuracy and high-FPS performance within the You Only Look Once version 8 small (YOLOv8s) framework. The key innovation lies in the synergistic integration of several architectural enhancements: the DCNv3_LKA_C2f module, leveraging Deformable Convolution v3 (DCNv3) and Large Kernel Attention (LKA) for better the capture of complex object shapes; an Optimized Feature Pyramid Network structure (Optimized-GFPN) for improved multi-scale feature fusion; the Detect_SA module, incorporating spatial Self-Attention (SA) at the detection head for broader context awareness; and an Inner-Shape Intersection over Union (IoU) loss function to improve bounding box regression accuracy. These components collectively target the aforementioned challenges in road environments. Evaluations on the Berkeley DeepDrive 100K (BDD100K) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) datasets demonstrate the model’s effectiveness. Compared to baseline YOLOv8s, DGSS-YOLOv8s achieves mean Average Precision (mAP)@50 improvements of 2.4% (BDD100K) and 4.6% (KITTI). Significant gains were observed for challenging categories, notably 87.3% mAP@50 for cyclists on KITTI, and small object detection (AP-small) improved by up to 9.7% on KITTI. Crucially, DGSS-YOLOv8s achieved high processing speeds suitable for autonomous driving, operating at 103.1 FPS (BDD100K) and 102.5 FPS (KITTI) on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU. These results highlight that DGSS-YOLOv8s effectively balances enhanced detection accuracy for complex scenarios with high processing speed, demonstrating its potential for demanding autonomous driving applications. Full article

With the increasing urgency for digital transformation in large-scale caged layer farms, traditional methods for monitoring the environment and chicken health, which often rely on human experience, face challenges related to low efficiency and poor real-time performance. In this study, we focused on caged layer chickens and proposed an improved abnormal beak detection model based on the You Only Look Once v8 (YOLOv8) framework. Data collection was conducted using an inspection robot, enhancing automation and consistency. To address the interference caused by chicken cages, an Efficient Multi-Scale Attention (EMA) mechanism was integrated into the Spatial Pyramid Pooling-Fast (SPPF) module within the backbone network, significantly improving the model’s ability to capture fine-grained beak features. Additionally, the standard convolutional blocks in the neck of the original model were replaced with Grouped Shuffle Convolution (GSConv) modules, effectively reducing information loss during feature extraction. The model was deployed on edge computing devices for the real-time detection of abnormal beak features in layer chickens. Beyond local detection, a digital twin remote monitoring system was developed, combining three-dimensional (3D) modeling, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud-edge collaboration to create a dynamic, real-time mapping of physical layer farms to their virtual counterparts. This innovative approach not only improves the extraction of subtle features but also addresses occlusion challenges commonly encountered in small target detection. Experimental results demonstrate that the improved model achieved a detection accuracy of 92.7%. In terms of the comprehensive evaluation metric (mAP), it surpassed the baseline model and YOLOv5 by 2.4% and 3.2%, respectively. The digital twin system also proved stable in real-world scenarios, effectively mapping physical conditions to virtual environments. Overall, this study integrates deep learning and digital twin technology into a smart farming system, presenting a novel solution for the digital transformation of poultry farming. Full article

In intelligent building, efficient surface defect detection is crucial for structural safety and maintenance quality. Traditional methods face three challenges in complex scenarios: locating defect features accurately due to multi-scale texture and background interference, missing fine cracks because of their tiny size and low contrast, and the insufficient generalization of irregular defects due to complex geometric deformation. To address these issues, an improved version of the You Only Look Once (YOLOv8) algorithm is proposed for building surface defect detection. The dataset used in this study contains six common building surface defects, and the images are captured in diverse scenarios with different lighting conditions, building structures, and ages of material. Methodologically, the first step involves a normalization-based attention module (NAM). This module minimizes irrelevant features and redundant information and enhances the salient feature expression of cracks, delamination, and other defects, improving feature utilization. Second, for bottlenecks in fine crack detection, an explicit vision center (EVC) feature fusion module is introduced. It focuses on integrating specific details and overall context, improving the model’s effectiveness. Finally, the backbone network integrates deformable convolution net v2 (DCNV2) to capture the contour deformation features of targets like mesh cracks and spalling. Our experimental results indicate that the improved model outperforms YOLOv8, achieving a 3.9% higher mAP50 and a 4.2% better mAP50-95. Its performance reaches 156 FPS, suitable for real-time inspection in smart construction scenarios. Our model significantly improves defect detection accuracy and robustness in complex scenarios. The study offers a reliable solution for accurate multi-type defect detection on building surfaces. Full article

As a fundamental element of the wind power generation system, the timely detection and rectification of surface cracks and other defects are imperative to ensure the stable function of the entire system. A new wind tower surface crack detection model, You Only Look Once version 5l GhostNetV2-CBAM-BiFPN (YOLOv5l-GCB), is proposed to accomplish the accurate classification of wind tower surface cracks. Ghost Network Version 2 (GhostNetV2) is integrated into the backbone of YOLOv5l to realize lightweighting of the backbone, which simplifies the complexity of the model and enhances the inference speed; the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) is added to strengthen the attention of the model to the target region; and the bidirectional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) has been developed for the purpose of enhancing the model’s detection accuracy in complex scenes. The proposed improvement strategy is verified through ablation experiments. The experimental results indicate that the precision, recall, F1 score, and mean average precision of YOLOv5l-GCB reach 91.6%, 99.0%, 75.0%, and 84.6%, which are 4.7%, 2%, 1%, and 10.4% higher than that of YOLOv5l, and it can accurately recognize multiple types of cracks, with an average number of 28 images detected per second, which improves the detection speed. Full article

Aiming at the limitations of current citrus detection methods in complex orchard environments, especially the problems of poor model adaptability and high computational complexity under different lighting, multiple occlusions, and dense fruit conditions, this study proposes an improved citrus detection model, YOLO-PBGM, based on You Only Look Once v7 (YOLOv7). First, to tackle the large size of the YOLOv7 network model and its deployment challenges, the PC-ELAN module is constructed by introducing Partial Convolution (PConv) for lightweight improvement, which reduces the model’s demand for computing resources and parameters. At the same time, the Bi-Former attention module is embedded to enhance the perception and processing of citrus fruit information. Secondly, a lightweight neck network is constructed using Grouped Shuffle Convolution (GSConv) to simplify computational complexity. Finally, the minimum-point-distance-based IoU (MPDIoU) loss function is utilized to optimize the boundary return mechanism, which speeds up model convergence and reduces the redundancy of bounding box regression. Experimental results indicate that for the citrus dataset collected in a natural environment, the improved model reduces Params and GFLOPs by 15.4% and 23.7%, respectively, while improving precision, recall, and mAP by 0.3%, 4%, and 3.5%, respectively, thereby outperforming other detection networks. Additionally, an analysis of citrus object detection under varying lighting and occlusion conditions reveals that the YOLO-PBGM network model demonstrates good adaptability, effectively coping with variations in lighting and occlusions while exhibiting high robustness. This model can provide a technical reference for uncrewed intelligent picking of citrus. Full article

Efficient insulator-defect detection in transmission lines is crucial for ensuring the reliability and safety of power systems. This study introduces YOLOv8-IDX (You Only Look Once v8—Insulator Defect eXtensions), an enhanced DL (Deep Learning) based model designed specifically for detecting defects in transmission line insulators. The model builds upon the YOLOv8 framework, incorporating advanced modules, such as C3k2 in the backbone for enhanced feature extraction and C2fCIB in the neck for improved contextual understanding. These modifications aim to address the challenges of detecting small and complex defects under diverse environmental conditions. The results demonstrate that YOLOv8-IDX significantly outperforms the baseline YOLOv8 in terms of mean Average Precision (mAP) by 4.7% and 3.6% on the IDID and CPLID datasets, respectively, with F1 scores of 93.2 and 97.2 on the IDID and CPLID datasets, respectively. These findings underscore the model’s potential in automating power line inspections, reducing manual effort, and minimizing maintenance-related downtime. In conclusion, YOLOv8-IDX represents a step forward in leveraging DL and AI for smart grid applications, with implications for enhancing the reliability and efficiency of power transmission systems. Future work will focus on extending the model to multi-class defect detection and real-time deployment using UAV platforms. Full article

The welding quality of industrial pipelines directly impacts structural safety. X-ray non-destructive testing (NDT), known for its non-invasive and efficient characteristics, is widely used for weld defect detection. However, challenges such as low contrast between defects and background, as well as large variations in defect scales, reduce the accuracy of existing object detection models. To address these, an optimized detection model based on You Only Look Once (YOLO) v5 is proposed. Firstly, the Efficient Multi-Scale Attention (EMA) attention mechanism is integrated into the first Cross Stage Partial (C3) module of the backbone to enhance the model’s receptive field and the initial feature extraction. Secondly, the Efficient Channel Attention (ECA) attention mechanism is embedded before the Spatial Pyramaid Pooling Fast (SPPF) layer to enhance the model’s ability to extract small targets and key features. Finally, the Complete Intersection over Union (CIoU) loss is replaced with Wise Intersection over Union (WIoU) to improve localization accuracy and multi-scale detection performance. The experimental results show that the optimized model achieves a precision of 94.1%, a recall of 89.2%, and an mAP@0.5 of 94.6%, representing improvements by 11.5%, 5.4%, and 6.9%, respectively, over the original YOLOv5. The optimized model also outperforms several mainstream object detection models in weld defect detection. In terms of mAP@0.5, the optimized YOLOv5 model shows improvements of 14.89%, 13.02%, 6.1%, 19.37%, 7.1%, 7.5%, and 10.7% compared with the Faster-RCNN, SSD, RT-DETR, YOLOv3, YOLOv8, YOLOv9, and YOLOv10 models, respectively. This optimized model significantly enhances X-ray weld defect detection accuracy, meeting industrial application requirements and offering another high-precision solution for weld defect detection. Full article

Modern computer vision techniques for forest fire detection face a trade-off between computational efficiency and detection accuracy in complex forest environments. To address this, we propose a lightweight YOLOv11n-based framework optimized for edge deployment. The backbone network integrates a novel C3k2MBNV2 (Cross Stage Partial Bottleneck with 3 convolutions and kernel size 2 MobileNetV2) block to enable efficient fire feature extraction via a compact architecture. We further introduce the SCDown (Spatial-Channel Decoupled Downsampling) block in both the backbone and neck to preserve critical information during downsampling. The neck further incorporates the C3k2WTDC (Cross Stage Partial Bottleneck with 3 convolutions and kernel size 2, combined with Wavelet Transform Depthwise Convolution) block, enhancing contextual understanding with reduced computational overhead. Experiments on a forest fire dataset demonstrate that our model achieves a 53.2% reduction in parameters and 28.6% fewer FLOPs compared to YOLOv11n (You Only Look Once version eleven), along with a 3.3% improvement in mean average precision. These advancements establish an optimal balance between efficiency and accuracy, enabling the proposed framework to attain real-time detection capabilities on resource-constrained edge devices in forest environments. This work provides a practical solution for deploying reliable forest fire detection systems in scenarios demanding low latency and minimal computational resources. Full article

This paper compares the performance of Deep Learning (DL) and multi-template matching (MTM) models for detecting small defects. DL models extract distinguishing features of objects but require a large dataset of images. In contrast, alternative computer vision techniques like MTM need a relatively small dataset. The lack of large datasets for small metal-surface defects has inhibited the adoption of automation in small-defect detection in remanufacturing settings. This motivated this preliminary study to compare template-based approaches, like MTM, with feature-based approaches, such as DL models, for small-defect detection on an initial laboratory and remanufacturing industry dataset. This study used You Only Look Once v5 (YOLOv5) as the DL model and compared its performance against the MTM model for small-crack detection. The findings of our preliminary investigation are as follows: (i) YOLOv5 demonstrated higher performance than MTM in detecting small cracks; (ii) an extra-large variant of YOLOv5 outperformed a small-size variant; (iii) the size and object variety of the data are crucial in achieving robust pre-trained weights for use in transfer learning; and (iv) enhanced image resolution contributes to precise object detection. Full article

This study addresses the labor-intensive and safety-critical challenges of manual oyster processing by innovating an advanced robotic intelligent sorting system. Central to this system is the integration of a high-resolution vision module, dual operational controllers, and the collaborative AUBO-i3 robot, all harmonized through a sophisticated Robot Operating System (ROS) framework. A specialized oyster image dataset was curated and augmented to train a robust You Only Look Once version 8 Oriented Bounding Box (YOLOv8-OBB) model, further enhanced through the incorporation of MobileNet Version 4 (MobileNetV4). This optimization reduced the number of model parameters by 50% and lowered the computational load by 23% in terms of GFLOPS (Giga Floating-point Operations Per Second). In order to capture oyster motion dynamically on a conveyor belt, a Kalman filter (KF) combined with a Low-Pass filter algorithm was employed to predict oyster trajectories, thereby improving noise reduction and motion stability. This approach achieves superior noise reduction compared to traditional Moving Average methods. The system achieved a 95.54% success rate in static gripping tests and an impressive 84% in dynamic conditions. These technological advancements demonstrate a significant leap towards revolutionizing seafood processing, offering substantial gains in operational efficiency, reducing potential contamination risks, and paving the way for a transition to fully automated, unmanned production systems in the seafood industry. Full article

Automated fabric defect detection is crucial for improving quality control, reducing manual labor, and optimizing efficiency in the textile industry. Traditional inspection methods rely heavily on human oversight, which makes them prone to subjectivity, inefficiency, and inconsistency in high-speed manufacturing environments. This review systematically examines the evolution of the You Only Look Once (YOLO) object detection framework from YOLO-v1 to YOLO-v11, emphasizing architectural advancements such as attention-based feature refinement and Transformer integration and their impact on fabric defect detection. Unlike prior studies focusing on specific YOLO variants, this work comprehensively compares the entire YOLO family, highlighting key innovations and their practical implications. We also discuss the challenges, including dataset limitations, domain generalization, and computational constraints, proposing future solutions such as synthetic data generation, federated learning, and edge AI deployment. By bridging the gap between academic advancements and industrial applications, this review is a practical guide for selecting and optimizing YOLO models for fabric inspection, paving the way for intelligent quality control systems. Full article