Object Detection Network Based on Module Stack and Attention Mechanism

Abstract

Currently, visual computer applications based on convolutional neural networks are rapidly developing. However, several problems remain: (1) high-quality graphics processing equipment is needed, and (2) the trained network model has several unnecessary convolution operations. These problems result in a single-stage target detection network that often requires unnecessary computing power and is difficult to apply to equipment with insufficient computing resources. To solve these problems, based on YOLOv5, a YOLOv5-L (YOLOv5 Lightweight) network structure is proposed. This network is improved using YOLOv5. First, to enhance the inference speed of the detector on the CPU, the PP-LCNet (PaddlePaddle-Lightweight CPU Net) is employed as the backbone network. Second, the focus module is removed, and the end convolution module in the head network is replaced by a deep separable convolution module, which eliminates redundant operations and reduces the amount of computation. The experimental results show that YOLOv5-L enables a 48% reduction in model parameters and computation compared to YOLOv5, a 35% increase in operation speed, and a less than 2% reduction in accuracy, which is significant in the environment of low-performance computing equipment.