YOLOv8-Based Drone Detection: Performance Analysis and Optimization

Abstract

The extensive utilization of drones has led to numerous scenarios that encompass both advantageous and perilous outcomes. By using deep learning techniques, this study aimed to reduce the dangerous effects of drone use through early detection of drones. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of deep learning approaches such as pre-trained YOLOv8 drone detection for security issues. This study focuses on the YOLOv8 model to achieve optimal performance in object detection tasks using a publicly available dataset collected by Mehdi Özel for a UAV competition that is sourced from GitHub. These images are labeled using Roboflow, and the model is trained on Google Colab. YOLOv8, known for its advanced architecture, was selected due to its suitability for real-time detection applications and its ability to process complex visual data. Hyperparameter tuning and data augmentation techniques were applied to maximize the performance of the model. Basic hyperparameters such as learning rate, batch size, and optimization settings were optimized through iterative experiments to provide the best performance. In addition to hyperparameter tuning, various data augmentation strategies were used to increase the robustness and generalization ability of the model. Techniques such as rotation, scaling, flipping, and color adjustments were applied to the dataset to simulate different conditions and variations. Among the augmentation techniques applied to the specific dataset in this study, rotation was found to deliver the highest performance. Blurring and cropping methods were observed to follow closely behind. The combination of optimized hyperparameters and strategic data augmentation allowed YOLOv8 to achieve high detection accuracy and reliable performance on the publicly available dataset. This method demonstrates the effectiveness of YOLOv8 in real-world scenarios, while also highlighting the importance of hyperparameter tuning and data augmentation in increasing model capabilities. To enhance model performance, dataset augmentation techniques including rotation and blurring are implemented. Following these steps, a significant precision value of 0.946, a notable recall value of 0.9605, and a considerable precision–recall curve value of 0.978 are achieved, surpassing many popular models such as Mask CNN, CNN, and YOLOv5.

Keywords

• YOLOv8
• drone detection
• deep learning