A beneficial dual transformation approach for deep learning networks used in steel surface defect detection

Steel surface defect detection represents a challenging task in real-world practical object detection. Based on our observations, there are two critical problems which create this challenge: the tiny size, and vagueness of the defects. To solve these problems, this study a proposes a deep learning-based defect detection system that uses automatic dual transformation in the end-to-end network. First, the original training images in RGB are transformed into the HSV color model to re-arrange the difference in color distribution. Second, the feature maps are upsampled using bilinear interpolation to maintain the smaller resolution. The latest and state-of-the-art object detection model, High-Resolution Network (HRNet) is utilized in this system, with initial transformation performed via data augmentation. Afterward, the output of the backbone stage is applied to the second transformation. According to the experimental results, the proposed approach increases the accuracy of the detection of class 1 Severstal steel surface defects by 3.6% versus the baseline.