Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Target Research Articles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Fire Detection Platform Based on Semantic Yolov5 and Autonomous Recognition

In recent years, as fire image detection has become a research hotspot. One class of methods is color-based methods, which are very sensitive to brightness and shadows. As a result, the number of false alarms generated by these methods is high. Aiming at the task requirements of airborne binocular vision obstacle avoidance and target tracking, this paper establishes the verification platform architecture of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) binocular vision obstacle avoidance and target tracking. For the update and maintenance of boundary regions, we can also continuously extract richer information from the boundary, make more elaborate plans, and develop an incremental method to detect locally updated maps within the boundary. The fire point can be independently and quickly identified through deep learning to extinguish the fire accurately. Assuming that the system incorrectly identifies 2 out of 80 non-fire sources as fire sources, so the results indicate a precision of about 88%, a recall of 90%. However, the traditional fire detection is around 80%.

Fine-Grained Feature Perception for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Target Detection Algorithm

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial images often present challenges such as small target sizes, high target density, varied shooting angles, and dynamic poses. Existing target detection algorithms exhibit a noticeable performance decline when confronted with UAV aerial images compared to general scenes. This paper proposes an outstanding small target detection algorithm for UAVs, named Fine-Grained Feature Perception YOLOv8s-P2 (FGFP-YOLOv8s-P2), based on YOLOv8s-P2 architecture. We specialize in improving inspection accuracy while meeting real-time inspection requirements. First, we enhance the targets’ pixel information by utilizing slice-assisted training and inference techniques, thereby reducing missed detections. Then, we propose a feature extraction module with deformable convolutions. Decoupling the learning process of offset and modulation scalar enables better adaptation to variations in the size and shape of diverse targets. In addition, we introduce a large kernel spatial pyramid pooling module. By cascading convolutions, we leverage the advantages of large kernels to flexibly adjust the model’s attention to various regions of high-level feature maps, better adapting to complex visual scenes and circumventing the cost drawbacks associated with large kernels. To match the excellent real-time detection performance of the baseline model, we propose an improved Random FasterNet Block. This block introduces randomness during convolution and captures spatial features of non-linear transformation channels, enriching feature representations and enhancing model efficiency. Extensive experiments and comprehensive evaluations on the VisDrone2019 and DOTA-v1.0 datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of FGFP-YOLOv8s-P2. This achievement provides robust technical support for efficient small target detection by UAVs in complex scenarios.

Web-enhanced unmanned aerial vehicle target search method combining imitation learning and reinforcement learning

PurposeThis paper aims to study the agent learning from expert demonstration data while incorporating reinforcement learning (RL), which enables the agent to break through the limitations of expert demonstration data and reduces the dimensionality of the agent’s exploration space to speed up the training convergence rate.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, the decay weight function is set in the objective function of the agent’s training to combine both types of methods, and both RL and imitation learning (IL) are considered to guide the agent's behavior when updating the policy. Second, this study designs a coupling utilization method between the demonstration trajectory and the training experience, so that samples from both aspects can be combined during the agent’s learning process, and the utilization rate of the data and the agent’s learning speed can be improved.FindingsThe method is superior to other algorithms in terms of convergence speed and decision stability, avoiding training from scratch for reward values, and breaking through the restrictions brought by demonstration data.Originality/valueThe agent can adapt to dynamic scenes through exploration and trial-and-error mechanisms based on the experience of demonstrating trajectories. The demonstration data set used in IL and the experience samples obtained in the process of RL are coupled and used to improve the data utilization efficiency and the generalization ability of the agent.

Web intelligence-enhanced unmanned aerial vehicle target search model based on reinforcement learning for cooperative tasks

PurposeBecause of the various advantages of reinforcement learning (RL) mentioned above, this study uses RL to train unmanned aerial vehicles to perform two tasks: target search and cooperative obstacle avoidance.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws inspiration from the recurrent state-space model and recurrent models (RPM) to propose a simpler yet highly effective model called the unmanned aerial vehicles prediction model (UAVPM). The main objective is to assist in training the UAV representation model with a recurrent neural network, using the soft actor-critic algorithm.FindingsThis study proposes a generalized actor-critic framework consisting of three modules: representation, policy and value. This architecture serves as the foundation for training UAVPM. This study proposes the UAVPM, which is designed to aid in training the recurrent representation using the transition model, reward recovery model and observation recovery model. Unlike traditional approaches reliant solely on reward signals, RPM incorporates temporal information. In addition, it allows the inclusion of extra knowledge or information from virtual training environments. This study designs UAV target search and UAV cooperative obstacle avoidance tasks. The algorithm outperforms baselines in these two environments.Originality/valueIt is important to note that UAVPM does not play a role in the inference phase. This means that the representation model and policy remain independent of UAVPM. Consequently, this study can introduce additional “cheating” information from virtual training environments to guide the UAV representation without concerns about its real-world existence. By leveraging historical information more effectively, this study enhances UAVs’ decision-making abilities, thus improving the performance of both tasks at hand.

A deep neural network approach with attention mechanism to improve the quality of target observation for UAVs

Owing to the limitations of onboard equipment, the direct acquisition of high-resolution images in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) target observation tasks is a challenge. However, with the development of deep learning, super-resolution reconstruction has become a popular technique for enhancing image resolution. Though, current super-resolution reconstruction methods can enhance UAV target observation images to some extent, most of them are unable to strike a balance between the number of parameters, computational cost, and reconstruction effect. Furthermore, limited research has been conducted for overcoming the cascade coupling problem in UAV target observation images. To solve these problems and provide a lightweight, fast, and high-quality super-resolution method for UAV target observation images, an enhanced attention dense cross network (EADCN) is proposed. This method includes excellent attention mechanisms, such as the double large kernel attention module (D-LKA) and multi-aware channel attention distillation block (MAADB). In addition to benchmark datasets, a UAV target observation dataset (UAV-TOD) is created to evaluate the performance of EADCN. The experimental results demonstrate that the EADCN has fewer parameters, low computational complexity, high accuracy, and fast processing speed, making it suitable for deployment in UAVs.

Technological Innovation: New Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Target Tracking Technology

This article mainly discusses a new type of unmanned aerial vehicle target tracking technology, comprising a drone using a built-in GPS module and a device with a built-in GPS module worn by a human body. When the human body is in motion, the device worn by the human body and the drone generate pseudocodes; Perform pseudorange measurement at a certain moment in GPS time; Obtain a nonlinear equation system related to pseudorange, repeat iterative calculations to obtain accurate coordinates, use Dijkstra algorithm to calculate the shortest path in a weighted directed graph, and the drone flies according to the shortest movement trajectory from the starting point to the human target point; The drone and device of the present invention perform pseudorange measurement at a certain moment in GPS time, and repeat iterative calculations to reduce errors, which is conducive to obtaining accurate coordinates of the device and drone; Based on weighted graph search, the coordinates of the drone and the human body are treated as two endpoints, representing the starting and ending points. The algorithm calculates the shortest trajectory in the graph.

UAV Target Tracking Algorithm Based on Illumination Adaptation and Future Awareness in Low Illumination Scenes

Aiming at problems such as tracking failure caused by illumination changes often encountered during unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) tracking, a target tracking algorithm with illumination adaptive and future-aware correlation filters is proposed based on the background-aware correlation filters (BACF) algorithm, which realizes reliable UAV tracking tasks at night. First, the dark scene is recognized, and an efficient image enhancement module is used to enhance the brightness of low illumination images. Then a future-aware module is constructed to train the tracking model using the contextual information of the target in the next frame for better robustness. Finally, the model updating stage involves adaptive filter updating and adaptive learning rate updating to enhance target tracking precision. The results of the comparison experiments with the state-of-the-art algorithms on the UAVDark135, UAVDT, and DTB70 datasets show that the algorithm in this paper outperforms the state-of-the-art tracking methods and has better tracking performance under light changes and fast motion (FM) scenarios. The tracking speed on a single Central processing unit (CPU) reaches 49 FPS, which satisfies the real-time requirement of UAV tracking.

UV communication cooperative formation UAV alliance capture algorithm.

The capture of target unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by a UAV formation is one of the important and typical tasks in multi-UAV battlefield operations. In this paper, an ultraviolet (UV) light communication-assisted formation UAV alliance capture algorithm is proposed, which combines UV light communication technology with a capture algorithm. With the help of wireless UV light to assist UAV formation inter-UAV data confidentiality transmission and non-line-of-sight communication, the algorithm integrates the alliance generation algorithm with the region minimization strategy, solves the optimal alliance structure by using the dynamic programming method, and implements the aerial capture of the target UAVs by using the region minimization strategy, so as to complete the task of efficiently capturing multi-targets by the UAV formation in complex scenarios. Simulation comparisons were conducted between the region minimization strategy and the proposed UV communication-assisted formation UAV alliance capture algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm reduces energy consumption by 12.73% on average and decreases the average number of algorithm iterations by 27.49% during the UAV formation capture of multiple targets, which verifies its low energy consumption and high capture efficiency.

Target Signal Communication Detection of Black Flying UAVs Based on Deep Learning Algorithm

Background: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being widely used in many fields, such as national economy, social development, national defense, and security. Currently, the number of registered UAVs in China is far less than that of flying UAVs-the frequent occurrence of unsafe incidents. Objective: The phenomenon of UAVs flying undeclared and unapproved has caused more serious troubles to social public order and people's production and life. Methods: In this paper, to assist the public security department in detecting the phenomenon of UAV black flying, our team conducts a series of research based on the deep learning YOLOv5 (You Only Look Once) algorithm. Results: Firstly, the Vision Transformer mechanism is integrated to enhance the robustness of the model. Secondly, depth-separable convolution is introduced to reduce parameter redundancy. Finally, the SimAM attention-free mechanism and CBAM attention-free mechanism are combined to enhance the attention of small target UAVs. Conclusion: Through the analysis of UAV targets in video surveillance, the rapid identification of black-flying UAVs can be realized, the monitoring and early warning ability of UAVs in a specific area can be improved, and the loss of life and property of people can be reduced or saved as much as possible.

Lightweight air-to-air unmanned aerial vehicle target detection model

The rapid expansion of the drone industry has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of low-altitude drones, giving rise to concerns regarding collision avoidance and countermeasure strategies among these unmanned aerial vehicles. These challenges underscore the urgent need for air-to-air drone target detection. An effective target detection model must exhibit high accuracy, real-time capabilities, and a lightweight network architecture to achieve a balance between precision and speed when deployed on embedded devices. In response to these requirements, we initially curated a dataset comprising over 10,000 images of low-altitude operating drones. This dataset encompasses diverse and intricate backgrounds, significantly enhancing the model’s training capacity. Subsequently, a series of enhancements were applied to the YOLOv5 algorithm to realize lightweight object detection. A novel feature extraction network, CF2-MC, streamlined the feature extraction process, while an innovative module, MG, in the feature fusion section aimed to improve detection accuracy and reduce model complexity. Concurrently, the original CIoU loss function was replaced with the EIoU loss function to further augment the model’s accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate an enhancement in the accuracy of drone target detection, achieving mAP values of 95.4% on the UAVfly dataset and 82.2% on the Det-Fly dataset. Finally, real-world testing conducted on the Jetson TX2 revealed that the YOLOv5s-ngn model achieved an average inference speed of 14.5 milliseconds per image. The code utilized in this paper can be accessed via https://github.com/lucien22588/yolov5-ngn.git.

Framework for Autonomous UAV Navigation and Target Detection in Global-Navigation-Satellite-System-Denied and Visually Degraded Environments

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have possible applications in wildlife monitoring, disaster monitoring, and emergency Search and Rescue (SAR). Autonomous capabilities such as waypoint flight modes and obstacle avoidance, as well as their ability to survey large areas, make UAVs the prime choice for these critical applications. However, autonomous UAVs usually rely on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for navigation and normal visibility conditions to obtain observations and data on their surrounding environment. These two parameters are often lacking due to the challenging conditions in which these critical applications can take place, limiting the range of utilisation of autonomous UAVs. This paper presents a framework enabling a UAV to autonomously navigate and detect targets in GNSS-denied and visually degraded environments. The navigation and target detection problem is formulated as an autonomous Sequential Decision Problem (SDP) with uncertainty caused by the lack of the GNSS and low visibility. The SDP is modelled as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) and tested using the Adaptive Belief Tree (ABT) algorithm. The framework is tested in simulations and real life using a navigation task based on a classic SAR operation in a cluttered indoor environment with different visibility conditions. The framework is composed of a small UAV with a weight of 5 kg, a thermal camera used for target detection, and an onboard computer running all the computationally intensive tasks. The results of this study show the robustness of the proposed framework to autonomously explore and detect targets using thermal imagery under different visibility conditions. Devising UAVs that are capable of navigating in challenging environments with degraded visibility can encourage authorities and public institutions to consider the use of autonomous remote platforms to locate stranded people in disaster scenarios.

Equivalent Modeling and Analysis of Handover Process in K-Tier UAV Networks

Featured by flexible deployment, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can form multi-tier networks in 3D space, enhancing the capacity, but this heterogeneity causes more unnecessary handovers (HOs), i.e., ping-pongs (PPs) and handover failures (HOFs). However, existing studies have not modeled the HO process in multi-tier UAV networks. This paper proposes an equivalent model for the HO process in <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">K</i> -tier UAV networks, where nonlinear mapping rules are established from the altitude and transmit power to equivalent horizontal distances specific to HO events, then HO status during time-to-trigger (TTT) is analyzed via the mapping rules. Specifically, each trigger condition of the HO events is transformed into a circular boundary centered on the projection of the target UAV with the corresponding trigger radii. Considering the practical HO process, the HO trigger location is tractably modeled as a random variable of the path length from the start, and the signal-to-interference ratio during TTT and the residence time are analyzed through equivalent geometric relations. The results show that there exists an altitude ratio that causes the most frequent HO, which increases by 25% to 150% under different configurations. Trade-offs between HOF and PP exist in the altitude ratio and transmit power ratio, besides the HO parameters.

Infrared UAV Target Detection Based on Continuous-Coupled Neural Network.

The task of the detection of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is of great significance to social communication security. Infrared detection technology has the advantage of not being interfered with by environmental and other factors and can detect UAVs in complex environments. Since infrared detection equipment is expensive and data collection is difficult, there are few existing UAV-based infrared images, making it difficult to train deep neural networks; in addition, there are background clutter and noise in infrared images, such as heavy clouds, buildings, etc. The signal-to-clutter ratio is low, and the signal-to-noise ratio is low. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the UAV detection task using traditional methods. The above challenges make infrared UAV detection a difficult task. In order to solve the above problems, this work drew upon the visual processing mechanism of the human brain to propose an effective framework for UAV detection in infrared images. The framework first determines the relevant parameters of the continuous-coupled neural network (CCNN) through the image's standard deviation, mean, etc. Then, it inputs the image into the CCNN, groups the pixels through iteration, then obtains the segmentation result through expansion and erosion, and finally, obtains the final result through the minimum circumscribed rectangle. The experimental results showed that, compared with the existing most-advanced brain-inspired image-understanding methods, this framework has the best intersection over union (IoU) (the intersection over union is the overlapping area between the predicted segmentation and the label divided by the joint area between the predicted segmentation and the label) in UAV infrared images, with an average of 74.79% (up to 97.01%), and can effectively realize the task of UAV detection.

CPA-YOLOv7: Contextual and pyramid attention-based improvement of YOLOv7 for drones scene target detection

Target detection in unmanned aerial vehicle application scenarios has other problems, such as dense targets. The existing unmanned aerial vehicle target detection model with high computational complexity makes it difficult to meet real-time unmanned aerial vehicle target detection, and the detection accuracy of small targets is low. To address these problems, we propose an improved YOLOv7 small target detection model based on context and pyramidal attention that can cope with dense unmanned aerial vehicle scenarios - CPA-YOLOv7. This model embeds our proposed lightweight multi-scale attentional feature spatial pyramid pooling module, which can better distinguish between small and large target features, reducing the computational effort while improving the detection accuracy of the model. Secondly, we design a contextual dynamic fusion attention module in the network to fuse global and local contextual information and dynamically assign features to multiple groups of channels; in the multi-scale fusion process, it effectively increases the characterization ability of small target features and enables the network to better focus on small target information. Finally, we improve Wise-Intersection-over-Union loss as the regression loss function, add a moderation factor to retain some of the high and low-quality sample weights to improve the regression accuracy of high-quality anchor frames, and use the dynamic non-monotonic focusing mechanism to increase the model's focus on ordinary quality anchor frames to improve the model's localization performance and robustness to low-quality samples. Numerous experimental results show that on the unmanned aerial vehicle datasets VisDrone2021-DET and AI-TOD, the mAP values of our model are 2.3% and 1.1% higher than those of the YOLOv7 model with fewer parameters introduced, and the computational speed reaches 146 frames per second (FPS), which can meet the real-time requirements of unmanned aerial vehicle detection.

UAV Target Detection for IoT via Enhancing ERP Component by Brain–Computer Interface System

The increasing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices provides a huge data source for intelligent identification. Images captured by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are often exploited in target detection missions for search, rescue and fire prevention. However, without sufficient training samples, the machine learning method is usually difficult to meet application requirements. To solve the problem, a brain-computer interface (BCI) real-time system is applied to UAV target detection. In this study, a novel rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm was formulated to present images, enhancing the ability for wide-area target detection. Since there is spatial correlation in captured images, joint decision for identical target can improve the recognition efficiency. To suppress interfering components and improve event-related potential (ERP) detection efficiency, an enhancing ERP component (EEC) algorithm is proposed. Both decision method and EEC algorithm are based on strictly statistical theory. RSVP task was performed by 12 subjects. The interference components and noise correlation were significantly reduced by EEC algorithm. The target detection rate online was 86.6% while the false alarm rate was less than 5%. Besides, the joint decision strategy raised the area under curve (AUC) value from 0.876 to 0.963. The proposed BCI real-time system realizes the complementarity of human intelligence and IoT, ushering UAV target detection into the era of hybrid intelligence.

Differentiated Attention Guided Network Over Hierarchical and Aggregated Features for Intelligent UAV Surveillance

Intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance based on infrared imaging has wide applications in the antiUAV system for protecting urban security and aerial safety. However, weak target features and complex background distraction pose great challenges for the accurate detection of UAVs. To address this issue, we propose a novel differentiated attention guided network to adaptively strengthen the discriminative features between UAV targets and complex background. First, a novel spatial-aware channel attention (SCA) is introduced into deep layers via preserving critical spatial features and leveraging channel interdependencies to focus on the large-scale targets. The channel-modulated deformable spatial attention is introduced into shallow layers via refining channel context and dynamically perceiving the spatial features for focusing on the small-scale targets. A combination of the above two attention mechanisms is employed in intermediate layers of the network for concentrating on the medium-scale targets. Then, we embed a feature aggregator at the detection branches to guide the information exchange of high-level feature maps and low-level feature maps with a bottom-up context modulation, and integrate an SCA at the end to further boost the distinctive feature representation for task-awareness. The above design can adaptively enhance multiscale UAV target features and suppress complex background interferences, leading to better detection performance, especially for small targets. Extensive experiments on real infrared UAV datasets reveal that the proposed method outperforms the baseline object detectors by a large margin, validating its feasibility in real-world infrared UAV detection. The source code can be found at <uri xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://github.com/KALEIDOSCOPEIP/DAGNet</uri> .

Composite control of anti-drone platform for stable tracking under disturbance.

First, focused on the complex problem that a U-shaped tracking frame is unreachable to obtain the pointing angles of an unmanned aerial vehicle target, a novel coordinate transformation method is proposed in this paper. The fixed transformation relationship between the intermediate links is deduced by establishing a unified coordinate system, simplifying the algorithm conversion process, and saving computing resources and time. Furthermore, the accuracy of the proposed method has been verified in both aspects of theory and experiment. Then, in order to achieve smooth motion performance between target pointing strategy and stable tracking strategy, a mode switching method based on hysteresis intervals is developed. Compared with the traditional single-point threshold method, the switching method overcomes the high frequency jitter problem. The experimental results validate the consistency between practical effects and theoretical expectations. Finally, to improve the disturbance rejection performance of the platform, a composite control method integrating the information from the gyroscope and circular grating is proposed. The corresponding control scheme and the compensation principle are conceived and explained. The experimental results show the anti-interference performance of the proposed composite control method is five times that of the closed-loop method based on the gyroscope speed signal and two times that of the disturbance observer control method.

Ensemble Transfer Learning Based Cross-Domain UAV Actuator Fault Detection

The actuator is critical for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attitude. With the development of sensing technology, the convenience of collecting high-quality data by sensors has provided favorable conditions for data-driven based UAV actuator fault detection methods. However, there are less historical data on a new type of UAV, making it challenging to accurately obtain data-driven fault detection models. The data domain distribution of the new UAV (target domain) is different from that of existing UAVs (source domains), and the basic data-driven methods are difficult to achieve cross-domain fault detection. The transfer learning of a single source domain method can solve this problem, but it has a strong dependence on the single source domain data characteristics. Therefore, we propose the ensemble transfer learning method, which learns multiple UAV data characteristics to address the accuracy degradation issue caused by single-source domain insufficient characteristics and realize cross-domain actuator fault detection with limited data for the new type of UAV. In the method, the basic actuator prediction models are established based on the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) algorithm. Then we combine the transfer learning method to realize the cross-domain fault detection model establishment of the new type of UAV. In addition, a cross-domain similarity metric based on R-score is creatively proposed for the ensemble to avoid excessive dependence on a single-source domain. We conduct experiments based on the ArduPilot open-source simulation platform, and the results show that our proposed method can adaptively obtain more accurate fault detection performance.

Fairness-Based 3-D Multi-UAV Trajectory Optimization in Multi-UAV-Assisted MEC System

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) -assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) communication system has recently gained increasing attention. In this paper, we investigate a 3D multi-UAV trajectory optimization based on ground devices (GDs) selecting the target UAV for task computing. Specifically, we first design a 3D dynamic multi-UAV-assisted MEC system in which GDs have real-time mobility and task update. Next, we formulate the system communication, computation, and flight energy consumption as objective functions based on fairness among UAVs. Then, to pursue fairness among UAVs, we theoretically deduce and mathematically prove the optimal GDs’ selectivity and offloading strategy, that is, how GDs select the optimal UAV for task offloading and how much to offload. While ensuring the optimal offloading strategy and GDs’ selectivity between UAVs and GDs at each step, we model UAV trajectories as a sequence of location updates of all UAVs and apply a multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (MADDPG) algorithm to find the optimal solution. Simulation results demonstrate that we achieve the minimum energy consumption under the premise of fairness and the efficiency of model processing tasks.

UAV Air Game Maneuver Decision-Making Using Dueling Double Deep Q Network with Expert Experience Storage Mechanism

Deep reinforcement learning technology applied to three-dimensional Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) air game maneuver decision-making often results in low utilization efficiency of training data and algorithm convergence difficulties. To address these issues, this study proposes an expert experience storage mechanism that improves the algorithm’s performance with less experience replay time. Based on this mechanism, a maneuver decision algorithm using the Dueling Double Deep Q Network is introduced. Simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed mechanism significantly enhances the algorithm’s performance by reducing the experience by 81.3% compared to the prioritized experience replay mechanism, enabling the UAV agent to achieve a higher maximum average reward value. The experimental results suggest that the proposed expert experience storage mechanism improves the algorithm’s performance with less experience replay time. Additionally, the proposed maneuver decision algorithm identifies the optimal policy for attacking target UAVs using different fixed strategies.