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MRP-YOLO: An Enhanced Lightweight Network for Small Object Detection in Complex UAV Imagery

  • Yunchao Li
  • , Zhiyao Lu
  • , Kunlun Wang
  • , Li Wang
  • , Chuanchuan He
  • , Weichao Wu*
  • *Corresponding author for this work
  • Norinco Group Test And Measuring Academy
  • Beijing Institute of Technology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Object detection in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery plays a critical role in military reconnaissance and security monitoring. However, it is constrained by tiny object sizes, complex backgrounds, and limited computational resources on edge devices. To address these issues, this paper proposes MRP-YOLO, an enhanced lightweight detector based on YOLOv11s. The model integrates a C3k2-MSCB module to strengthen multi-scale feature extraction and an RCSOSA module to optimize contextual information fusion for dense targets. Additionally, a lightweight Partial Convolution-based Detection (PCD) head is constructed to significantly reduce computational complexity. Experimental results on the VisDrone2019 dataset demonstrate that MRP-YOLO achieves 43.7% mAP@0.5 (surpassing the baseline by 5.1%), while achieving 204.5 FPS with a model size of only 8.5 MB. These metrics confirm that MRP-YOLO provides strong technical support for intelligent surveillance with a superior trade-off between accuracy and efficiency.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2026 6th International Conference on Neural Networks, Information and Communication Engineering, NNICE 2026
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages379-383
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9798331588656
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2026
Externally publishedYes
Event6th International Conference on Neural Networks, Information and Communication Engineering, NNICE 2026 - Hefei, China
Duration: 23 Jan 202625 Jan 2026

Publication series

Name2026 6th International Conference on Neural Networks, Information and Communication Engineering, NNICE 2026

Conference

Conference6th International Conference on Neural Networks, Information and Communication Engineering, NNICE 2026
Country/TerritoryChina
CityHefei
Period23/01/2625/01/26

Keywords

  • Feature fusion
  • Lightweight detection head
  • MRP-YOLO
  • Small object detection

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