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Small target detection algorithm based on attention mechanism and data augmentation

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Abstract

The detection of masks is of great significance to the prevention of occupational diseases such as infectious diseases and dust diseases. For the problems of small target size, large number of targets, and mutual occlusion in mask-wearing detection, a mask-wearing detection algorithm based on improved YOLOv5s is proposed in this paper. First, the ultralightweight attention mechanism module ECA is embedded in the neck layer to improve the accuracy of the model. Second, the influence of different loss functions (GIoU, CIoU, and DIoU) on the improved model is explored, and CIoU is determined as the loss function of the improved model. Besides, the improved model adopted the label smoothing method, which effectively improved the generalization ability of the model and reduced the risk of overfitting. Finally, the influence of data augmentation methods (Mosaic and Mixup) on model performance is discussed, and the optimal weight of data augmentation is determined. The proposed model is tested on the verification set, and the mean average precision (mAP), precision, and recall are 92.1%, 90.3%, and 87.4%, respectively. The mAP of the improved algorithm is 4.4% higher than that of the original algorithm.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to technical or time limitations. Please contact the corresponding author for further assistance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Hao Hongjuan for helping us to make the weld data set. Dr. Wang Qiuping has provided us with many research foundations, such as plates with welds.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China (grant NO. 2022JM-033), and 2023 Graduate Innovation Fund Project of Xi'an Polytechnic University (grant NO. chx2023026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Jiuxin Wang, Man Liu, Yaoheng Su, Jiahui Yao, Yurong Du, Minghu Zhao & Dingze Lu

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  1. Jiuxin Wang
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  2. Man Liu
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Contributions

ML performed methodology, software, formal analysis, and investigation. JY and JW provided conceptualization, methodology, validation, and supervision. YD and DL did methodology, validation, and supervision. MZ approved validation, resources, supervision, and writing—review and editing. YS carried out supervision, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Yaoheng Su.

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Wang, J., Liu, M., Su, Y. et al. Small target detection algorithm based on attention mechanism and data augmentation. SIViP 18, 3837–3853 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11760-024-03046-y

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