Multi-layer Feature Cascade Fusion Spiking Neural Network for Object Detection

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), as a biologically inspired computational model, have garnered significant attention in object detection and image classification due to their event-driven mechanism and low-power characteristics. However, in object detection tasks, the residual structures in conventional networks introduce nonspiking operations, posing a critical challenge for SNNs. To address this issue, we propose a multi-layer feature cascade fusion SNN (MFCF-SNN) for object detection. During feature extraction, our novel multi-level cascaded feature extraction module replaces residual connections with cascade operations, eliminating nonspiking computations while enhancing gradient propagation to deeper layers. For downsampling, we introduce a pooling-convolution module that combines max-pooling and spiking convolution, effectively preserving feature information and improving gradient flow. These two modules collectively ensure pure spike-based computation while facilitating deep network training, thereby enhancing detection accuracy. Experimental results on the PASCAL VOC 2012 and SSDD datasets demonstrate state-of-the-art performance, validating the effectiveness of our approach in advancing SNN-based object detection.