An Edge-Guided Deep Learning Solar Panel Hotspot Thermal Image Segmentation Algorithm

Abstract

To overcome the deficiencies in segmenting hot spots from thermal infrared images, such as difficulty extracting the edge features, low accuracy, and a high missed detection rate, an improved Mask R-CNN photovoltaic hot spot thermal image segmentation algorithm has been proposed in this paper. Firstly, the edge image features of hot spots were extracted based on residual neural networks. Secondly, by combining the feature pyramid structure, an edge-guided feature pyramid structure was designed, and the hot spot edge features were injected into a Mask R-CNN network. Thirdly, an infrared spatial attention module was introduced into the Mask R-CNN network when feature extraction and the infrared features of the detected hot spots were enhanced. Fourthly, the size ratio of the candidate frames was adjusted self-adaptively according to the structural characteristics of the aspect ratio of the hot spots. Finally, the validation experiments were conducted, and the results demonstrated that the hot spot contours of thermal infrared images were enhanced through the algorithm proposed in this paper, and the segmentation accuracy was significantly improved.