YOLOv7t-CEBC Network for Underwater Litter Detection

Abstract

The issue of marine litter has been an important concern for marine environmental protection for a long time, especially underwater litter. It is not only challenging to clean up, but its prolonged presence underwater can cause damage to marine ecosystems and biodiversity. This has led to underwater robots equipped with powerful visual detection algorithms becoming the mainstream alternative to human labor for cleaning up underwater litter. This study proposes an enhanced underwater litter detection algorithm, YOLOv7t-CEBC, based on YOLOv7-tiny, to assist underwater robots in target identification. The research introduces some modules tailored for marine litter detection within the model framework, addressing inter-class similarity and intra-class variability inherent in underwater waste while balancing detection precision and speed. Experimental results demonstrate that, on the Deep Plastic public dataset, YOLOv7t-CEBC achieves a detection accuracy (mAP) of 81.8%, markedly surpassing common object detection algorithms. Moreover, the detection frame rate reaches 118 FPS, meeting the operational requirements of underwater robots. The findings affirm that the enhanced YOLOv7t-CEBC network serves as a reliable tool for underwater debris detection, contributing to the maintenance of marine health.