Forest Fire Object Detection Analysis Based on Knowledge Distillation

This paper investigates the application of the YOLOv7 object detection model combined with knowledge distillation techniques in forest fire detection. As an advanced object detection model, YOLOv7 boasts efficient real-time detection capabilities. However, its performance may be constrained in resource-limited environments. To address this challenge, this research proposes a novel approach: considering that deep neural networks undergo multi-layer mapping from the input to the output space, we define the knowledge propagation between layers by evaluating the dot product of features extracted from two different layers. To this end, we utilize the Flow of Solution Procedure (FSP) matrix based on the Gram matrix and redesign the distillation loss using the Pearson correlation coefficient, presenting a new knowledge distillation method termed ILKDG (Intermediate Layer Knowledge Distillation with Gram Matrix-based Feature Flow). Compared with the classical knowledge distillation algorithm, KD, ILKDG achieved a significant performance improvement on a self-created forest fire detection dataset. Specifically, without altering the student network's parameters or network layers, mAP@0.5 improved by 2.9%, and mAP@0.5:0.95 increased by 2.7%. These results indicate that the proposed ILKDG method effectively enhances the accuracy and performance of forest fire detection without introducing additional parameters. The ILKDG method, based on the Gram matrix and Pearson correlation coefficient, presents a novel knowledge distillation approach, providing a fresh avenue for future research. Researchers can further optimize and refine this method to achieve superior results in fire detection.