A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms

The ability to classify and recognize maritime targets based on visual images plays an important role in advancing ship intelligence and digitalization. The current target recognition algorithms for common maritime targets, such as buoys, reefs, other ships, and bridges of different colors, face cha...

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Main Authors: Pu Wang, Shenhua Yang, Guoquan Chen, Weijun Wang, Zeyang Huang, Yuanliang Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/10/1839
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author Pu Wang
Shenhua Yang
Guoquan Chen
Weijun Wang
Zeyang Huang
Yuanliang Jiang
author_facet Pu Wang
Shenhua Yang
Guoquan Chen
Weijun Wang
Zeyang Huang
Yuanliang Jiang
author_sort Pu Wang
collection DOAJ
description The ability to classify and recognize maritime targets based on visual images plays an important role in advancing ship intelligence and digitalization. The current target recognition algorithms for common maritime targets, such as buoys, reefs, other ships, and bridges of different colors, face challenges such as incomplete classification, low recognition accuracy, and a large number of model parameters. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel maritime target recognition method called DTI-YOLO (DualConv Triple Attention InnerEIOU-You Only Look Once). This method is based on a triple attention mechanism designed to enhance the model’s ability to classify and recognize buoys of different colors in the channel while also making the feature extraction network more lightweight. First, the lightweight double convolution kernel feature extraction layer is constructed using group convolution technology to replace the Conv structure of YOLOv9 (You Only Look Once Version 9), effectively reducing the number of parameters in the original model. Second, an improved three-branch structure is designed to capture cross-dimensional interactions of input image features. This structure forms a triple attention mechanism that accounts for the mutual dependencies between input channels and spatial positions, allowing for the calculation of attention weights for targets such as bridges, buoys, and other ships. Finally, InnerEIoU is used to replace CIoU to improve the loss function, thereby optimizing loss regression for targets with large scale differences. To verify the effectiveness of these algorithmic improvements, the DTI-YOLO algorithm was tested on a self-made dataset of 2300 ship navigation images. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of this method in identifying seven types of targets—including buoys, bridges, islands and reefs, container ships, bulk carriers, passenger ships, and other ships—reached 92.1%, with a 12% reduction in the number of parameters. This enhancement improves the model’s ability to recognize and distinguish different targets and buoy colors.
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spelling doaj-art-7ab13da4f4da44bda3045a81808c07a62025-08-20T02:10:54ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122024-10-011210183910.3390/jmse12101839A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention MechanismsPu Wang0Shenhua Yang1Guoquan Chen2Weijun Wang3Zeyang Huang4Yuanliang Jiang5Navigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaNavigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaNavigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaNavigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaNavigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaNavigation College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaThe ability to classify and recognize maritime targets based on visual images plays an important role in advancing ship intelligence and digitalization. The current target recognition algorithms for common maritime targets, such as buoys, reefs, other ships, and bridges of different colors, face challenges such as incomplete classification, low recognition accuracy, and a large number of model parameters. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel maritime target recognition method called DTI-YOLO (DualConv Triple Attention InnerEIOU-You Only Look Once). This method is based on a triple attention mechanism designed to enhance the model’s ability to classify and recognize buoys of different colors in the channel while also making the feature extraction network more lightweight. First, the lightweight double convolution kernel feature extraction layer is constructed using group convolution technology to replace the Conv structure of YOLOv9 (You Only Look Once Version 9), effectively reducing the number of parameters in the original model. Second, an improved three-branch structure is designed to capture cross-dimensional interactions of input image features. This structure forms a triple attention mechanism that accounts for the mutual dependencies between input channels and spatial positions, allowing for the calculation of attention weights for targets such as bridges, buoys, and other ships. Finally, InnerEIoU is used to replace CIoU to improve the loss function, thereby optimizing loss regression for targets with large scale differences. To verify the effectiveness of these algorithmic improvements, the DTI-YOLO algorithm was tested on a self-made dataset of 2300 ship navigation images. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of this method in identifying seven types of targets—including buoys, bridges, islands and reefs, container ships, bulk carriers, passenger ships, and other ships—reached 92.1%, with a 12% reduction in the number of parameters. This enhancement improves the model’s ability to recognize and distinguish different targets and buoy colors.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/10/1839ship targetimproved YOLOv9triple attention mechanismlightweighting
spellingShingle Pu Wang
Shenhua Yang
Guoquan Chen
Weijun Wang
Zeyang Huang
Yuanliang Jiang
A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
ship target
improved YOLOv9
triple attention mechanism
lightweighting
title A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
title_full A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
title_fullStr A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
title_short A Ship’s Maritime Critical Target Identification Method Based on Lightweight and Triple Attention Mechanisms
title_sort ship s maritime critical target identification method based on lightweight and triple attention mechanisms
topic ship target
improved YOLOv9
triple attention mechanism
lightweighting
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/10/1839
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