Steel surface defect detection algorithm based on ESI-YOLOv8

Abstract To enhance the precision of detecting defects on steel plate surfaces and diminish the incidences of false detection and leakage, the ESI-YOLOv8 algorithm is introduced. This algorithm introduces a novel EP module and integrates the large separation convolutional attention module and the spatial pyramid pooling module to propose the SPPF-LSKA module. Additionally, the original CIOU loss function is replaced with the INNER-CIOU loss function. The EP module minimizes redundant computations and model parameters to optimize efficiency and simultaneously increases the multi-scale fusion mechanism to expand the sensory field. The SPPF-LSKA module reduces computational complexity, accelerates model operation speed, and improves detection accuracy. Additionally, the INNER-CIOU loss function can improve detection speed and model accuracy by controlling the scale size of the auxiliary border.The results of the experiment indicate that, following the improvements made, the algorithm’s detection accuracy has increased to 78%, which is 3.7% higher than the original YOLOv8. Furthermore, the model parameters were reduced, and the verification was conducted using the CoCo dataset, resulting in an average accuracy of 77.8%. In conclusion, the algorithm has demonstrated its ability to perform steel plate surface defect detection with efficiency and accuracy.