An Edge-Deployable Lightweight UAV Detection and Net-Capture System Based on NCDet-YOLO
TL;DR
An edge-deployable UAV detection and net-capture system based on Net-Capture Detection YOLO (NCDet-YOLO), developed from YOLOv8n, which incorporates C2f_Faster, SPD_Conv, EMA, and a lightweight three-scale detection head, with CrossKD used to compensate for accuracy loss caused by structural compression.
Abstract
The growing frequency of unauthorized UAV activities has increased the demand for real-time perception and rapid response on resource-constrained edge devices. This study proposes an edge-deployable UAV detection and net-capture system based on Net-Capture Detection YOLO (NCDet-YOLO). Developed from YOLOv8n, NCDet-YOLO incorporates C2f_Faster, SPD_Conv, EMA, and a lightweight three-scale detection head, with CrossKD used to compensate for accuracy loss caused by structural compression. The dataset contains 6615 images and was divided into 5292 training and 1323 validation images. The self-collected data include DJI Phantom 4 and DJI Inspire 2 UAVs observed at approximately 4–30 m under different daytime backgrounds. NCDet-YOLO achieves an mAP50–95 of 0.6504 with 1.55 M parameters and 4.1 GFLOPs. On a Jetson Orin NX Super under the 15 W power mode, it achieves 31.53 FPS, representing a 31.67% increase over YOLOv8n. The detector is further integrated with target alignment, distance determination, trigger control, and net-capture execution. In 10 real-platform trials, 8 captures were successful, corresponding to an 80.0% success rate, with one false-trigger event and an end-to-end latency from target detection to net-capture firing of approximately 400 ms.