Performance analysis of deep learning-based object detection algorithms on COCO benchmark: a comparative study

Abstract This paper thoroughly explores the role of object detection in smart cities, specifically focusing on advancements in deep learning-based methods. Deep learning models gain popularity for their autonomous feature learning, surpassing traditional approaches. Despite progress, challenges remain, such as achieving high accuracy in urban scenes and meeting real-time requirements. The study aims to contribute by analyzing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, identifying accurate models for smart cities, and evaluating real-time performance using the Average Precision at Medium Intersection over Union (IoU) metric. The reported results showcase various algorithms’ performance, with Dynamic Head (DyHead) emerging as the top scorer, excelling in accurately localizing and classifying objects. Its high precision and recall at medium IoU thresholds signify robustness. The paper suggests considering the mean Average Precision (mAP) metric for a comprehensive evaluation across IoU thresholds, if available. Despite this, DyHead stands out as the superior algorithm, particularly at medium IoU thresholds, making it suitable for precise object detection in smart city applications. The performance analysis using Average Precision at Medium IoU is reinforced by the Average Precision at Low IoU (APL), consistently depicting DyHead’s superiority. These findings provide valuable insights for researchers and practitioners, guiding them toward employing DyHead for tasks prioritizing accurate object localization and classification in smart cities. Overall, the paper navigates through the complexities of object detection in urban environments, presenting DyHead as a leading solution with robust performance metrics.