LBA-YOLO: A novel lightweight approach for detecting micro-cracks in building structures

Developing an efficient and accurate algorithm for detecting building cracks, especially micro-cracks, is essential for ensuring structural integrity and safety. The identification and precise localization of cracks remain challenging due to varying crack sizes and the inconsistency in available datasets. To address these issues, this study introduces an innovative crack detection model based on YOLOv8n. The proposed method incorporates two novel components: AC-LayeringNetV2, a hierarchical backbone network that optimizes feature extraction by integrating local, peripheral, and global contextual information, and RAK-Conv, a convolutional module that combines an attention mechanism with irregular convolution operations to enhance the model's ability to handle complex backgrounds. These innovations significantly improve semantic segmentation accuracy while reducing computational overhead. Experimental results on a benchmark dataset demonstrate a 2.20% improvement in precision, a 3.50% increase in recall, and a 1.90% rise in mAP@50 compared to the baseline model. Additionally, the model achieves a 6.55% reduction in size and a 0.03% decrease in computational complexity. These results highlight the practical applicability and efficiency of the proposed approach for automatic crack detection in building structures, emphasizing the novel integration of feature fusion and attention mechanisms to address challenges in real-time and high-accuracy detection of micro-cracks in complex environments.