Small Object Detection via a Dense Connection and Feature Enhancement Network

When detecting small objects in complex environment, the features of small objects will become blurred or even lost as the number of network layers increases. To address this problem, we constructed a Dense Connection and Feature Extraction Network, termed DCFEN. First, we designed a dense-connected multi-scale feature enhancement framework, which can effectively extract and fuse multi-scale features. Second, we constructed a dense-connected subnet using dense connections, which enhances the propagation of features and the utilization of shallow feature information, improving the detection performance of small objects. Finally, extensive experimental results demonstrated the detection precision and superiority of our method.