{"title":"Distribution-aware contrastive learning for domain adaptation in 3D LiDAR segmentation","authors":"Lamiae El Mendili, Sylvie Daniel, Thierry Badard","doi":"10.1016/j.cviu.2025.104438","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Semantic segmentation of 3D LiDAR point clouds is very important for applications like autonomous driving and digital twins of cities. However, current deep learning models suffer from a significant generalization gap. Unsupervised Domain Adaptation methods have recently emerged to tackle this issue. While domain-invariant feature learning using Maximum Mean Discrepancy has shown promise for images due to its simplicity, its application remains unexplored in outdoor mobile mapping point clouds. Moreover, previous methods do not consider the class information, which can lead to suboptimal adaptation performance. We propose a new approach—Contrastive Maximum Mean Discrepancy—to maximize intra-class domain alignment and minimize inter-class domain discrepancy, and integrate it into a 3D semantic segmentation model for LiDAR point clouds. The evaluation of our method with large-scale UDA datasets shows that it surpasses state-of-the-art UDA approaches for 3D LiDAR point clouds. CMMD is a promising UDA approach with strong potential for point cloud semantic segmentation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50633,"journal":{"name":"Computer Vision and Image Understanding","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 104438"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computer Vision and Image Understanding","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1077314225001614","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Semantic segmentation of 3D LiDAR point clouds is very important for applications like autonomous driving and digital twins of cities. However, current deep learning models suffer from a significant generalization gap. Unsupervised Domain Adaptation methods have recently emerged to tackle this issue. While domain-invariant feature learning using Maximum Mean Discrepancy has shown promise for images due to its simplicity, its application remains unexplored in outdoor mobile mapping point clouds. Moreover, previous methods do not consider the class information, which can lead to suboptimal adaptation performance. We propose a new approach—Contrastive Maximum Mean Discrepancy—to maximize intra-class domain alignment and minimize inter-class domain discrepancy, and integrate it into a 3D semantic segmentation model for LiDAR point clouds. The evaluation of our method with large-scale UDA datasets shows that it surpasses state-of-the-art UDA approaches for 3D LiDAR point clouds. CMMD is a promising UDA approach with strong potential for point cloud semantic segmentation.
期刊介绍:
The central focus of this journal is the computer analysis of pictorial information. Computer Vision and Image Understanding publishes papers covering all aspects of image analysis from the low-level, iconic processes of early vision to the high-level, symbolic processes of recognition and interpretation. A wide range of topics in the image understanding area is covered, including papers offering insights that differ from predominant views.
Research Areas Include:
• Theory
• Early vision
• Data structures and representations
• Shape
• Range
• Motion
• Matching and recognition
• Architecture and languages
• Vision systems