Drone-Based Marigold Flower Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important tool for improving agricultural tasks. In particular, object detection methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) enable the detection and classification of objects directly in the field. Combined with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, drones), these methods allow efficient crop monitoring. The primary challenge is to develop models that are both accurate and feasible under real-world conditions. This study addresses this challenge by evaluating marigold flower detection using three groups of CNN detectors: canonical models, including YOLOv2, Faster R-CNN, and SSD with their original backbones; modified versions of these detectors using DarkNet-53; and modern architectures, including YOLOv11, YOLOv12, and the RT-DETR. The dataset consisted of 392 images from marigold fields, which were manually labeled and augmented to a total of 940 images. The results showed that YOLOv2 with DarkNet-53 achieved the best performance, with 98.8% mean average precision (mAP) and 97.9% F1-score (F1). SSD and Faster R-CNN also improved, reaching 63.1% and 52.8%, respectively. Modern models obtained strong results: YOLOv11 and YOLOv12 reached 96–97%, and RT-DETR 93.5%. The modification of YOLOv2 allowed this classical detector to compete directly with, and even surpass, recent models. Precision–recall (PR) curves, F1-scores, and complexity analysis confirmed the trade-offs between accuracy and efficiency. These findings demonstrate that while modern detectors are efficient baselines, classical models with updated backbones can still deliver state-of-the-art results for UAV-based crop monitoring.