Aerial Object Detection

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Overview

Aerial object detection studies how to find and classify objects in images captured from drones, aircraft, and satellites, where targets may be tiny, crowded, rotated, or partly obscured. Common approaches include YOLO-style detectors and DETR transformers, high-resolution feature pyramids and image slicing, oriented bounding boxes, and fusion of RGB with thermal or event-camera data. VisDrone and UAVDT test drone imagery, while DOTA and related benchmarks emphasize large, varied scenes and rotated objects; recent work also explores open-vocabulary recognition, weak supervision, and efficient deployment on edge devices. A central tension is improving small-object accuracy without excessive computation, while performance across weather, sensors, locations, and datasets remains difficult to guarantee.

Latest papers

CardsList

122 papers8 papers in the last four weeks, down 47% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Enhanced Search and Rescue of Drowning Swimmers: Image-Based Localization and Mission Simulation

    Apr 20, 2026Sascha Emanuel Zell, Toni Schneidereit, Armin Fügenschuh +1Aerial RoboticsObject Detection

    Chair of Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Optimization Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1 03046 Cottbus, Germany · Chair of Applied Mathematics Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1 03046 Cottbus, Germany

  2. Tri-Modal Fusion Transformers for UAV-based Object Detection

    Apr 17, 2026Craig Iaboni, Pramod AbichandaniInfrared Object DetectionMultimodal Object Detection

    New Jersey Institute of Technology

  3. FSDETR: Frequency-Spatial Feature Enhancement for Small Object Detection

    Apr 16, 2026Jianchao Huang, Fengming Zhang, Haibo Zhu +1Frequency-Domain Feature LearningSmall Object Detection

    School of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China

  4. DroneScan-YOLO: Redundancy-Aware Lightweight Detection for Tiny Objects in UAV Imagery

    Apr 14, 2026Yann V. BellecSmall Object DetectionAerial Object Detection

  5. SFFNet: Synergistic Feature Fusion Network With Dual-Domain Edge Enhancement for UAV Image Object Detection

    Apr 3, 2026Wenfeng Zhang, Jun Ni, Yue Meng +4Object DetectionAerial Object Detection

    College of Computer and Information Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401333, China · CETC Yizhihang (Chongqing) Technology Co., Ltd, Chongqing 400031, China · School of Computer Engineering, Weifang University, Weifang 261061, China +1

  6. Visual Prototype Conditioned Focal Region Generation for UAV-Based Object Detection

    Apr 3, 2026Wenhao Li, Zimeng Wu, Yu Wu +2Image GenerationData Augmentation

    State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, Beihang University, China · School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China · Hangzhou Innovation Institute, Beihang University, Hangzhou, China

  7. BlankSkip: Early-exit Object Detection onboard Nano-drones

    Mar 30, 2026Carlo Marra, Beatrice Alessandra Motetti, Alessio Burrello +3Efficient Object DetectionObject Detection

    †Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

  8. SDD-YOLO: A Small-Target Detection Framework for Ground-to-Air Anti-UAV Surveillance with Edge-Efficient Deployment

    Mar 26, 2026Pengyu Chen, Haotian Sa, Yiwei Hu +2Small Object DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Chien-Shiung Wu College, Southeast University, Nanjing, China · School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

  9. UAV-DETR: DETR for Anti-Drone Target Detection

    Mar 24, 2026Jun Yang, Dong Wang, Hongxu Yin +2Aerial Object DetectionSmall Object Detection

    School of Automation, NPU, Xian, ShaanXi

  10. LARD 2.0: Enhanced Datasets and Benchmarking for Autonomous Landing Systems

    Mar 23, 2026Yassine Bougacha, Geoffrey Delhomme, Mélanie Ducoffe +8Aerial RoboticsUAV Navigation

    DGA · IRT Saint Exupéry, Toulouse, France · Thales, Toulouse, France +3

  11. SparseVoxelDet: Fully Sparse Voxel Networks for Efficient Event-Based Drone Detection

    Mar 23, 2026Mohamad Yazan Sadoun, Sarah Sharif, Yaser Mike BanadEvent-Based Object DetectionEfficient Object Detection

    Inquire Lab, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.

  12. UAV-CB: A Complex-Background RGB-T Dataset and Local Frequency Bridge Network for UAV Detection

    Mar 18, 2026Shenghui Huang, Menghao Hu, Longkun Zou +6Aerial Object DetectionMultimodal Fusion

    Pengcheng Laboratory, China · South China University of Technology, China · Xinjiang University, China +2

  13. Real-Time Oriented Object Detection Transformer in Remote Sensing Images

    Mar 16, 2026Zeyu Ding, Yong Zhou, Jiaqi Zhao +4Object DetectionDetection Transformer

    School of Computer Science and Technology / School of Artificial Intelligence, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China · Mine Digitization Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education, Xuzhou 221116, China · Jiangsu Provincial Industrial Technology Engineering Center for Intelligent Sensing and Emergency IoT in Underground Space, Xuzhou 221116, China +1

  14. Unsupervised LiDAR-Based Multi-UAV Detection and Tracking Under Extreme Sparsity

    Mar 12, 2026Nivand Khosravi, Rodrigo Ventura, Meysam BasiriUAV DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Instituto Superior T´ecnico, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

  15. RiO-DETR: DETR for Real-time Oriented Object Detection

    Mar 10, 2026Zhangchi Hu, Yifan Zhao, Yansong Peng +8Object DetectionDetection Transformer

    University of Science and Technology of China · Tsinghua University · Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. +1

  16. Real-Time Drone Detection in Event Cameras via Per-Pixel Frequency Analysis

    Mar 9, 2026Michael Bezick, Majid SahinUAV DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Johns Hopkins University APL

  17. Alignment-Aware and Reliability-Gated Multimodal Fusion for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Detection Across Heterogeneous Thermal-Visual Sensors

    Mar 9, 2026Ishrat Jahan, Molla E Majid, M Murugappan +5UAV DetectionMultimodal Sensor Fusion

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh · Computer Applications Department, Academic Bridge Program, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar. · Intelligent Signal Processing (ISP) Research Lab, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Block 4, Doha, Kuwait +5

  18. ODD-SEC: Onboard Drone Detection with a Spinning Event Camera

    Mar 6, 2026Kuan Dai, Hongxin Zhang, Sheng Zhong +1UAV DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Neuromorphic Automation and Intelligence Lab (NAIL) at School of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Hunan University, Changsha, China.

  19. CollabOD: Collaborative Multi-Backbone with Cross-scale Vision for UAV Small Object Detection

    Mar 6, 2026Xuecheng Bai, Yuxiang Wang, Chuanzhi Xu +3Efficient Object DetectionSmall Object Detection

    Aviation Traffic Control Technology (SHENZHEN) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China · The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia · Research Institute of Traffic Control Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing, China +1

  20. RMK RetinaNet: Rotated Multi-Kernel RetinaNet for Robust Oriented Object Detection in Remote Sensing Imagery

    Mar 5, 2026Huiran SunObject DetectionAerial Object Detection

    School of Computer Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Technology, 2055 Yan’an Street, Chaoyang District, Changchun, 130012, Jilin Province, China

  21. Tracking Feral Horses in Aerial Video Using Oriented Bounding Boxes

    Mar 4, 2026Saeko Takizawa, Tamao Maeda, Shinya Yamamoto +1Multi-Object TrackingObject Detection

    Graduate School of Information Science, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan · Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Kanagawa, Japan · Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

  22. Fourier Angle Alignment for Oriented Object Detection in Remote Sensing

    Feb 27, 2026Changyu Gu, Linwei Chen, Lin Gu +1Object DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Beijing Institute of Technology · University of Hong Kong · The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology +2

  23. Small Object Detection Model with Spatial Laplacian Pyramid Attention and Multi-Scale Features Enhancement in Aerial Images

    Feb 26, 2026Zhangjian Ji, Huijia Yan, Shaotong Qiao +2Small Object DetectionRemote Sensing Small Object Detection

    Key Laboratory of Computational Intelligence and Chinese Information Processing of Ministry of Education, School of Computer and Information Technology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China

  24. UFO-DETR: Frequency-Guided End-to-End Detector for UAV Tiny Objects

    Feb 26, 2026Yuankai Chen, Kai Lin, Qihong Wu +6Small Object DetectionAerial Object Detection

    Easy Lab, College of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China · School of Computer Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China · School of Mathematics, Foshan University, Foshan, China

  25. A text-guided vision model for enhanced recognition of small instances

    Feb 23, 2026Hyun-Ki JungSmall Object DetectionEfficient Object Detection

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

  26. FGAA-FPN: Foreground-Guided Angle-Aware Feature Pyramid Network for Oriented Object Detection

    Feb 11, 2026Jialin MaMulti-Scale Feature FusionObject Detection

    International school of BUPT, Beijing University Of Posts And Telecommunications, Beijing,China.

  27. CoLR-Det: Collaborative Latent Restoration for Small Object Detection in Low-Resolution Remote Sensing Images

    Jan 18, 2026Ruo Qi, Linhui Dai, Yusong Qin +2Remote Sensing Image UnderstandingRemote Sensing Small Object Detection

    Institute of Intelligent Information Processing, Shenzhen University, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Shenzhen and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Modern Communications and Information Processing, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

  28. YolovN-CBi: A Lightweight and Efficient Architecture for Real-Time Detection of Small UAVs

    Dec 19, 2025Ami Pandat, Punna Rajasekhar, Gopika Vinod +1Small Object DetectionObject Detection

    Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, 400094, Maharashtra, India. · Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai, 400094, Maharashtra, India.

  29. LiM-YOLO: Less is More with Pyramid Level Shift for Ship Detection in Optical Remote Sensing

    Dec 10, 2025Seon-Hoon Kim, Yerin Kim, Hyeji Sim +3Remote Sensing Small Object DetectionSmall Object Detection

    University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea · Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Daejeon 34133, Republic of Korea

  30. FMC-DETR: Frequency-Decoupled Multi-Domain Coordination for Aerial-View Object Detection

    Sep 27, 2025Ben Liang, Hongguang Wei, Yuan Liu +4Aerial Object DetectionRemote Sensing Small Object Detection

    School of Electronic Engineering and Optoelectronic Technology, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China · State Key Laboratory of Extreme Environment Optoelectronic Dynamic Measurement Technology and Instrument, Nanjing 210094, China