Application of Enhanced YOLOX for Debris Flow Detection in Remote Sensing Images

Abstract

Addressing the limitations, including low automation, slow recognition speed, and limited universality, of current mudslide disaster detection techniques in remote sensing imagery, this study employs deep learning methods for enhanced mudslide disaster detection. This study evaluated six object detection models: YOLOv3, YOLOv4, YOLOv5, YOLOv7, YOLOv8, and YOLOX, conducting experiments on remote sensing image data in the study area. Utilizing transfer learning, mudslide remote sensing images were fed into these six models under identical experimental conditions for training. The experimental results demonstrate that YOLOX-Nano’s comprehensive performance surpasses that of the other models. Consequently, this study introduces an enhanced model based on YOLOX-Nano (RS-YOLOX-Nano), aimed at further improving the model’s generalization capabilities and detection performance in remote sensing imagery. The enhanced model achieves a mean average precision (mAP) value of 86.04%, a 3.53% increase over the original model, and boasts a precision rate of 89.61%. Compared to the conventional YOLOX-Nano algorithm, the enhanced model demonstrates superior efficacy in detecting mudflow targets within remote sensing imagery.