Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals

Abstract This study introduces an advanced infrared scene detection algorithm, enhancing the YOLOv8 model for aiding visually impaired individuals in navigation. The focus is on the neck network, integrating attention scale sequences to boost multi‐level perception, particularly for small object det...

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Main Authors: Zhimin Bai, Yang Yang, Jian Wang, Zhengyang Li, Jiajun Wang, Chunxin Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-12-01
Series:IET Image Processing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1049/ipr2.13233
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author Zhimin Bai
Yang Yang
Jian Wang
Zhengyang Li
Jiajun Wang
Chunxin Liu
author_facet Zhimin Bai
Yang Yang
Jian Wang
Zhengyang Li
Jiajun Wang
Chunxin Liu
author_sort Zhimin Bai
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This study introduces an advanced infrared scene detection algorithm, enhancing the YOLOv8 model for aiding visually impaired individuals in navigation. The focus is on the neck network, integrating attention scale sequences to boost multi‐level perception, particularly for small object detection. This is achieved by adding upsampling and downsampling in the P2 module. Additionally, the CIoU loss function is refined with Inner‐SIoU, elevating bounding box detection precision. A distinctive feature of the approach is its monocular distance and velocity measurement integration, which operates independently of external devices, providing direct navigation support for visually impaired people. Further, the enhanced YOLOv8 is adapted for mobile use, employing pruning and lightweight methods, which substantially enhance its practicality. The experimental results on the FLIR and WOTR datasets demonstrate that, compared to the original YOLOv8n, the improved algorithm has achieved a 2.1% and 3.2% increase in mAP0.5, respectively. Furthermore, the mAP0.5--0.95 has seen a 2.2% and 3.8% improvement. Concurrently, the model size has been reduced by 55% and 60%, and the number of parameters has decreased by 60% and 67%. Compared to other assistive travel methods for visually impaired individuals, our work demonstrates superior practicality.
format Article
id doaj-art-c850e0b0e32946d1ae760ba3c2fdf41b
institution OA Journals
issn 1751-9659
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language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series IET Image Processing
spelling doaj-art-c850e0b0e32946d1ae760ba3c2fdf41b2025-08-20T01:56:48ZengWileyIET Image Processing1751-96591751-96672024-12-0118144824484210.1049/ipr2.13233Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individualsZhimin Bai0Yang Yang1Jian Wang2Zhengyang Li3Jiajun Wang4Chunxin Liu5School of Computer ScienceNorth China Institute of Aerospace EngineeringLangfang ChinaResearch Laboratory of Systems Software EngineeringBeijing Aerospace Automatic Control InstituteBeijing ChinaSchool of Computer ScienceNorth China Institute of Aerospace EngineeringLangfang ChinaSchool of Computer ScienceNorth China Institute of Aerospace EngineeringLangfang ChinaSchool of Computer ScienceNorth China Institute of Aerospace EngineeringLangfang ChinaSchool of Computer ScienceNorth China Institute of Aerospace EngineeringLangfang ChinaAbstract This study introduces an advanced infrared scene detection algorithm, enhancing the YOLOv8 model for aiding visually impaired individuals in navigation. The focus is on the neck network, integrating attention scale sequences to boost multi‐level perception, particularly for small object detection. This is achieved by adding upsampling and downsampling in the P2 module. Additionally, the CIoU loss function is refined with Inner‐SIoU, elevating bounding box detection precision. A distinctive feature of the approach is its monocular distance and velocity measurement integration, which operates independently of external devices, providing direct navigation support for visually impaired people. Further, the enhanced YOLOv8 is adapted for mobile use, employing pruning and lightweight methods, which substantially enhance its practicality. The experimental results on the FLIR and WOTR datasets demonstrate that, compared to the original YOLOv8n, the improved algorithm has achieved a 2.1% and 3.2% increase in mAP0.5, respectively. Furthermore, the mAP0.5--0.95 has seen a 2.2% and 3.8% improvement. Concurrently, the model size has been reduced by 55% and 60%, and the number of parameters has decreased by 60% and 67%. Compared to other assistive travel methods for visually impaired individuals, our work demonstrates superior practicality.https://doi.org/10.1049/ipr2.13233computer visioninfrared imagingneural net architectureobject detection
spellingShingle Zhimin Bai
Yang Yang
Jian Wang
Zhengyang Li
Jiajun Wang
Chunxin Liu
Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
IET Image Processing
computer vision
infrared imaging
neural net architecture
object detection
title Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
title_full Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
title_fullStr Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
title_full_unstemmed Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
title_short Enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
title_sort enhanced lightweight infrared object detection algorithm for assistive navigation in visually impaired individuals
topic computer vision
infrared imaging
neural net architecture
object detection
url https://doi.org/10.1049/ipr2.13233
work_keys_str_mv AT zhiminbai enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals
AT yangyang enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals
AT jianwang enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals
AT zhengyangli enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals
AT jiajunwang enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals
AT chunxinliu enhancedlightweightinfraredobjectdetectionalgorithmforassistivenavigationinvisuallyimpairedindividuals