A real-time foreign object detection method based on deep learning in complex open railway environments

In response to the current challenges of numerous background influencing factors and low detection accuracy in the open railway foreign object detection, a real-time foreign object detection method based on deep learning for open railways in complex environments is proposed. Firstly, the images of foreign objects invading the clearance collected by locomotives during long-term operation are used to create a railway foreign object dataset that fits the current situation. Then, to improve the performance of the target detection algorithm, certain improvements are made to the YOLOv7-tiny network structure. The improved algorithm enhances feature extraction capability and strengthens detection performance. By introducing a Simple, parameter-free Attention Module for convolutional neural network (SimAM) attention mechanism, the representation ability of ConvNets is improved without adding extra parameters. Additionally, drawing on the network structure of the weighted Bi-directional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN), the backbone network achieves cross-level feature fusion by adding edges and neck fusion. Subsequently, the feature fusion layer is improved by introducing the GhostNetV2 module, which enhances the fusion capability of different scale features and greatly reduces computational load. Furthermore, the original loss function is replaced with the Normalized Wasserstein Distance (NWD) loss function to enhance the recognition capability of small distant targets. Finally, the proposed algorithm is trained and validated, and compared with other mainstream detection algorithms based on the established railway foreign object dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves applicability and real-time performance on embedded devices, with high accuracy, improved model performance, and provides precise data support for railway safety assurance.