A Two-Stage YOLOv5s–U-Net Framework for Defect Localization and Segmentation in Overhead Transmission Lines

Transmission-line defect detection is crucial for grid operation. Existing methods struggle to balance defect localization and fine segmentation. Therefore, this study proposes a novel cascaded two-stage framework that first utilizes YOLOv5s for the global localization of defective regions, and then...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aohua Li, Dacheng Li, Anjing Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/9/2903
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Summary:Transmission-line defect detection is crucial for grid operation. Existing methods struggle to balance defect localization and fine segmentation. Therefore, this study proposes a novel cascaded two-stage framework that first utilizes YOLOv5s for the global localization of defective regions, and then uses U-Net for the fine segmentation of candidate regions. To improve the segmentation performance, U-Net adopts a transfer learning strategy based on the VGG16 pretrained model to alleviate the impact of limited dataset size on the training effect. Meanwhile, a hybrid loss function that combines Dice Loss and Focal Loss is designed to solve the small-target and class imbalance problems. This method integrates target detection and fine segmentation, enhancing detection precision and improving the extraction of detailed damage features. Experiments on the self-constructed dataset show that the method achieves 87% mAP on YOLOv5s, 88% U-Net damage recognition precision, a mean Dice coefficient of 93.66%, and 89% mIoU, demonstrating its effectiveness in accurately detecting transmission-line defects and efficiently segmenting the damage region, providing assistance for the intelligent operation and maintenance of transmission lines.
ISSN:1424-8220