USES-Net: An Infrared Dim and Small Target Detection Network with Embedded Knowledge Priors

Abstract

Detecting and identifying small infrared targets has always been a crucial technology for many applications. To address the low accuracy, high false-alarm rate, and poor environmental adaptability that commonly exist in infrared target detection methods, this paper proposes a composite infrared dim and small target detection model called USES-Net, which combines the target prior knowledge and conventional data-driven deep learning networks to make use of both labeled data and the domain knowledge. Based on the typical encoder–decoder structure, USES-Net firstly introduces the self-attention mechanism of Swin Transformer to replace the universal convolution kernel at the encoder end. This helps to extract potential features related to dim, small targets in a larger receptive field. In addition, USES-Net includes an embedded patch-based contrast learning module (EPCLM) to integrate the spatial distribution of the target as a knowledge prior in the training network model. This guides the training process of the constrained network model with clear physical interpretability. Finally, USES-Net also designs a bottom-up cross-layer feature fusion module (AFM) as the decoder of the network, and a data-slicing-aided enhancement and inference method based on Slicing Aided Hyper Inference (SAHI) is utilized to further improve the model’s detection accuracy. An experimental comparative analysis shows that USES-Net achieves the best results on three typical infrared weak-target datasets: NUAA-SIRST, NUDT-SIRST, and IRSTD-1K. The results of the target segmentation are complete and sufficient, which demonstrates the validity and practicality of the proposed method in comparison to others.