Detailed PV Monitor: A Highly Generalized Photovoltaic Panels Segmentation Network Integrating Context-Aware and Deep Feature Reconstruction

The urgency of global climate change has driven the rapid expansion of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. However, accurately identifying PV panels remains a major challenge due to complex environmental backgrounds, spectral confusion, and the lack of high-quality annotated datasets. These factors significantly impact the generalization ability of deep learning models in large-scale high-resolution remote sensing applications, thereby limiting the effective monitoring and planning of PV power stations. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a highly adaptable PV panel segmentation network, Detailed PV Monitoring (DPVM), specifically designed to enhance PV panel recognition in high-resolution imagery. DPVM integrates an Adaptive Context-Aware Module (ACAM) and a Deep Feature Reconstruction Decoder (DFRD).ACAM improves segmentation accuracy by leveraging multi-scale feature fusion and spatial attention mechanisms. DFRD employs multi-stage decoding and feature synthesis to achieve high-quality image reconstruction. We trained DPVM on our self-constructed Northwest China PV Dataset (NWC-PV Dataset) to ensure comprehensive learning of PV panel characteristics. Subsequently, we conducted generalization tests on other publicly available datasets, including AIR-PV and PVP. Experimental results demonstrate that DPVM exhibits outstanding robustness and broad adaptability, ensuring stable performance across diverse scenarios. Specifically, DPVM excels in complex backgrounds, significantly reducing PV panel missed detections, improving edge delineation, and outperforming classical and state-of-the-art segmentation models in key metrics.

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Publication Details

Journal
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/jstars.2025.3558471
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.82
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article

Detailed PV Monitor: A Highly Generalized Photovoltaic Panels Segmentation Network Integrating Context-Aware and Deep Feature Reconstruction

Huayi Wu, Xiaopu Zhang, Jianxun Wang, Kunlun Qi et al.
5 citations
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
1.82
article

Detailed PV Monitor: A Highly Generalized Photovoltaic Panels Segmentation Network Integrating Context-Aware and Deep Feature Reconstruction

Huayi Wu, Xiaopu Zhang, Jianxun Wang, Kunlun Qi, Ligang Wang, Yong Qian, Yongxian Zhang
article en
5 citations

Abstract

The urgency of global climate change has driven the rapid expansion of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. However, accurately identifying PV panels remains a major challenge due to complex environmental backgrounds, spectral confusion, and the lack of high-quality annotated datasets. These factors significantly impact the generalization ability of deep learning models in large-scale high-resolution remote sensing applications, thereby limiting the effective monitoring and planning of PV power stations. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a highly adaptable PV panel segmentation network, Detailed PV Monitoring (DPVM), specifically designed to enhance PV panel recognition in high-resolution imagery. DPVM integrates an Adaptive Context-Aware Module (ACAM) and a Deep Feature Reconstruction Decoder (DFRD).ACAM improves segmentation accuracy by leveraging multi-scale feature fusion and spatial attention mechanisms. DFRD employs multi-stage decoding and feature synthesis to achieve high-quality image reconstruction. We trained DPVM on our self-constructed Northwest China PV Dataset (NWC-PV Dataset) to ensure comprehensive learning of PV panel characteristics. Subsequently, we conducted generalization tests on other publicly available datasets, including AIR-PV and PVP. Experimental results demonstrate that DPVM exhibits outstanding robustness and broad adaptability, ensuring stable performance across diverse scenarios. Specifically, DPVM excels in complex backgrounds, significantly reducing PV panel missed detections, improving edge delineation, and outperforming classical and state-of-the-art segmentation models in key metrics.

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote SensingVol. 18
Ningxia University (CN), China University of Geosciences (CN), Wuhan University (CN), State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing (CN), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Tsinghua University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
1.82
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