arXiv · 2504.11470
SO-DETR: Leveraging Dual-Domain Features and Knowledge Distillation for Small Object Detection
Abstract
Detection Transformer-based methods have achieved significant advancements in general object detection. However, challenges remain in effectively detecting small objects. One key difficulty is that existing encoders struggle to efficiently fuse low-level features. Additionally, the query selection strategies are not effectively tailored for small objects. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an efficient model, Small Object Detection Transformer (SO-DETR). The model comprises three key components: a dual-domain hybrid encoder, an enhanced query selection mechanism, and a knowledge distillation strategy. The dual-domain hybrid encoder integrates spatial and frequency domains to fuse multi-scale features effectively. This approach enhances the representation of high-resolution features while maintaining relatively low computational overhead. The enhanced query selection mechanism optimizes query initialization by dynamically selecting high-scoring anchor boxes using expanded IoU, thereby improving the allocation of query resources. Furthermore, by incorporating a lightweight backbone network and implementing a knowledge distillation strategy, we develop an efficient detector for small objects. Experimental results on the VisDrone-2019-DET and UAVVaste datasets demonstrate that SO-DETR outperforms existing methods with similar computational demands. The project page is available at https://github.com/ValiantDiligent/SO_DETR.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Huaxiang Zhang, Hao Zhang, Aoran Mei, Zhongxue Gan, Guo-Niu Zhu. 2025-04-11. SO-DETR: Leveraging Dual-Domain Features and Knowledge Distillation for Small Object Detection. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.11470
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.