MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization

Cross-view geo-localization (CVGL) presents significant challenges due to the drastic variations in perspective and scene layout between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellite images. Existing methods have made certain advancements in extracting local features from images. However, they exhibit...

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Main Authors: Kaiji Hou, Qiang Tong, Na Yan, Xiulei Liu, Shoulu Hou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/14/4519
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author Kaiji Hou
Qiang Tong
Na Yan
Xiulei Liu
Shoulu Hou
author_facet Kaiji Hou
Qiang Tong
Na Yan
Xiulei Liu
Shoulu Hou
author_sort Kaiji Hou
collection DOAJ
description Cross-view geo-localization (CVGL) presents significant challenges due to the drastic variations in perspective and scene layout between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellite images. Existing methods have made certain advancements in extracting local features from images. However, they exhibit limitations in modeling the interactions among local features and fall short in aligning cross-view representations accurately. To address these issues, we propose a Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment (MCFA) network, which consists of a Multi-Scale Cascade Module (MSCM) and a Feature Adaptive Alignment Module (FAAM). The MSCM captures the features of the target’s adjacent regions and enhances the model’s robustness by learning key region information through association and fusion. The FAAM, with its dynamically weighted feature alignment module, adaptively adjusts feature differences across different viewpoints, achieving feature alignment between drone and satellite images. Our method achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance on two public datasets, University-1652 and SUES-200. In generalization experiments, our model outperforms existing SOTA methods, with an average improvement of 1.52% in R@1 and 2.09% in AP, demonstrating its effectiveness and strong generalization in cross-view geo-localization tasks.
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spelling doaj-art-8a75425fa695442cadeefd6c30f342632025-08-20T03:32:15ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-07-012514451910.3390/s25144519MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-LocalizationKaiji Hou0Qiang Tong1Na Yan2Xiulei Liu3Shoulu Hou4College of Computer Science, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, ChinaCollege of Computer Science, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, ChinaCollege of Computer Science, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, ChinaCollege of Computer Science, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, ChinaCollege of Computer Science, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, ChinaCross-view geo-localization (CVGL) presents significant challenges due to the drastic variations in perspective and scene layout between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellite images. Existing methods have made certain advancements in extracting local features from images. However, they exhibit limitations in modeling the interactions among local features and fall short in aligning cross-view representations accurately. To address these issues, we propose a Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment (MCFA) network, which consists of a Multi-Scale Cascade Module (MSCM) and a Feature Adaptive Alignment Module (FAAM). The MSCM captures the features of the target’s adjacent regions and enhances the model’s robustness by learning key region information through association and fusion. The FAAM, with its dynamically weighted feature alignment module, adaptively adjusts feature differences across different viewpoints, achieving feature alignment between drone and satellite images. Our method achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance on two public datasets, University-1652 and SUES-200. In generalization experiments, our model outperforms existing SOTA methods, with an average improvement of 1.52% in R@1 and 2.09% in AP, demonstrating its effectiveness and strong generalization in cross-view geo-localization tasks.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/14/4519cross-view geo-localizationunmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)image retrievalremote sensing
spellingShingle Kaiji Hou
Qiang Tong
Na Yan
Xiulei Liu
Shoulu Hou
MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
Sensors
cross-view geo-localization
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
image retrieval
remote sensing
title MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
title_full MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
title_fullStr MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
title_full_unstemmed MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
title_short MCFA: Multi-Scale Cascade and Feature Adaptive Alignment Network for Cross-View Geo-Localization
title_sort mcfa multi scale cascade and feature adaptive alignment network for cross view geo localization
topic cross-view geo-localization
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
image retrieval
remote sensing
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/14/4519
work_keys_str_mv AT kaijihou mcfamultiscalecascadeandfeatureadaptivealignmentnetworkforcrossviewgeolocalization
AT qiangtong mcfamultiscalecascadeandfeatureadaptivealignmentnetworkforcrossviewgeolocalization
AT nayan mcfamultiscalecascadeandfeatureadaptivealignmentnetworkforcrossviewgeolocalization
AT xiuleiliu mcfamultiscalecascadeandfeatureadaptivealignmentnetworkforcrossviewgeolocalization
AT shouluhou mcfamultiscalecascadeandfeatureadaptivealignmentnetworkforcrossviewgeolocalization