Research on Multi-Modal Fusion Detection Method for Low-Slow-Small UAVs Based on Deep Learning

Addressing the technical challenges in detecting Low-Slow-Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (LSS-UAV) cluster targets, such as weak signals and complex environmental interference coupling with strong features, this paper proposes a visible-infrared multi-modal fusion detection method based on deep learning. The method utilizes deep learning techniques to separately identify morphological features in visible light images and thermal radiation features in infrared images. A hierarchical multi-modal fusion framework integrating feature-level and decision-level fusion is designed, incorporating an Environment-Aware Dynamic Weighting (EADW) mechanism and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (D-S evidence theory). This framework effectively leverages the complementary advantages of feature-level and decision-level fusion. This effectively enhances the detection and recognition capability, as well as the system robustness, for LSS-UAV cluster targets in complex environments. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a detection accuracy of 93.5% for LSS-UAV clusters in complex urban environments, representing an average improvement of 18.7% compared to single-modal methods, while the false alarm rate is reduced to 4.2%. Furthermore, the method demonstrates strong environmental adaptability, maintaining high performance under challenging conditions such as nighttime and haze. This method provides an efficient and reliable technical solution for LSS-UAV cluster target detection.