R-FCN Object Detection Ensemble based on Object Resolution and Image Quality

Object detection can be difficult due to challenges such as variations in objects both inter- and intra-class. Additionally, variations can also be present between images. Based on this, research was conducted into creating an ensemble of Region-based Fully Convolutional Networks (R-FCN) object detectors. Ensemble strategies explored were firstly data sampling and selection and secondly combination strategies. Data sampling and selection aimed to create different subsets of data with respect to object size and image quality such that expert R-FCN ensemble members could be trained. Two combination strategies were explored for combining the individual member detections into an ensemble result, namely average and a weighted average. R-FCNs were trained and tested on the PASCAL VOC benchmark object detection dataset. Results proved positive with an increase in Average Precision (AP), compared to state-of-the-art similar systems, when ensemble members were combined appropriately.