Dynamic Graph Attention Network for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition

Skeleton-based human action recognition has garnered significant attention for its robustness to background noise and illumination variations. However, existing methods relying on Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) and Transformers exhibit inherent limitations: GCNs struggle to model interactions between non-adjacent joints due to predefined skeletal topology, while Transformers accumulate noise through unrestricted global dependency modeling. To address these challenges, we propose a Dynamic Graph Attention Network (DGAN) that dynamically integrates local structural features and global spatiotemporal dependencies. DGAN employs a masked attention mechanism to adaptively adjust node connectivity, forming a dynamic adjacency matrix that extends beyond physical skeletal constraints by selectively incorporating highly correlated joints. Additionally, a node-partition bias strategy is introduced to prioritize attention on collaboratively moving body parts, thereby enhancing discriminative feature extraction. Extensive experiments on the NTU RGB+D 60 and NTU RGB+D 120 datasets validate the effectiveness of DGAN, which outperforms state-of-the-art methods by achieving a balance between local topology preservation and global interaction modeling. Our approach provides a robust framework for skeleton-driven action recognition, demonstrating superior generalization across diverse scenarios.

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Publication Details

Journal
Applied Sciences
Published
2025-04-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app15094929
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Human Pose and Action Recognition
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.83

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article

Dynamic Graph Attention Network for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition

Gang Hua, Fanjia Li, Zhenhua Li
3 citations
Applied Sciences
Human Pose and Action Recognition
3.83
article

Dynamic Graph Attention Network for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition

Gang Hua, Fanjia Li, Zhenhua Li
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Skeleton-based human action recognition has garnered significant attention for its robustness to background noise and illumination variations. However, existing methods relying on Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) and Transformers exhibit inherent limitations: GCNs struggle to model interactions between non-adjacent joints due to predefined skeletal topology, while Transformers accumulate noise through unrestricted global dependency modeling. To address these challenges, we propose a Dynamic Graph Attention Network (DGAN) that dynamically integrates local structural features and global spatiotemporal dependencies. DGAN employs a masked attention mechanism to adaptively adjust node connectivity, forming a dynamic adjacency matrix that extends beyond physical skeletal constraints by selectively incorporating highly correlated joints. Additionally, a node-partition bias strategy is introduced to prioritize attention on collaboratively moving body parts, thereby enhancing discriminative feature extraction. Extensive experiments on the NTU RGB+D 60 and NTU RGB+D 120 datasets validate the effectiveness of DGAN, which outperforms state-of-the-art methods by achieving a balance between local topology preservation and global interaction modeling. Our approach provides a robust framework for skeleton-driven action recognition, demonstrating superior generalization across diverse scenarios.

Applied SciencesVol. 15(9)
Xuzhou University of Technology (CN), China University of Mining and Technology (CN)
Xuzhou Science and Technology Program
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Human Pose and Action Recognition
3.83
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