# MSCA-Net:Multi-Scale Context Aggregation Network for Infrared Small Target Detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17193 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.17193/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 19 of its 62 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Mar 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [CBAM: Convolutional Block Attention Module](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.06521/) (2018)
- [3D U-Net: Learning Dense Volumetric Segmentation from Sparse Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.06650/) (2016)
- [Attention U-Net: Learning Where to Look for the Pancreas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03999/) (2018)
- [Learning A Sparse Transformer Network for Effective Image Deraining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11950/) (2023)
- [Asymmetric Contextual Modulation for Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.14530/) (2020)
- [Dense Nested Attention Network for Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.00487/) (2021)
- [UIU-Net: U-Net in U-Net for Infrared Small Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00968/) (2022)
- [Attentional Local Contrast Networks for Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.08573/) (2020)
- [DEA-Net: Single image dehazing based on detail-enhanced convolution and content-guided attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.04805/) (2023)
- [S2-MLP: Spatial-Shift MLP Architecture for Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.07477/) (2021)
- [SCTransNet: Spatial-channel Cross Transformer Network for Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15583/) (2024)
- [MiM-ISTD: Mamba-in-Mamba for Efficient Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02148/) (2024)
- [MogaNet: Multi-order Gated Aggregation Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.03295/) (2022)
- [The Ninth NTIRE 2024 Efficient Super-Resolution Challenge Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10343/) (2024)
- [DilateFormer: Multi-Scale Dilated Transformer for Visual Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01791/) (2023)
- [Multi-scale Attention Network for Single Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14145/) (2022)
- [YOLO-MST: Multiscale deep learning method for infrared small target detection based on super-resolution and YOLO](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19878/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Diffuse to Detect: Bi-Level Sample Rebalancing with Pseudo-Label Diffusion for Point-Supervised Infrared Small-Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.20766/) (2026)
- [RDANet: Relative Degradation Aware Network for Infrared Small Target Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.20870/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In complex environments, detecting tiny infrared targets has always been challenging because of the low contrast and high noise levels inherent in infrared images. These factors often lead to the loss of crucial details during feature extraction. Moreover, existing detection methods have limitations in adequately integrating global and local information, which constrains the efficiency and accuracy of infrared small target detection. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a network architecture named MSCA-Net, which integrates three key components: Multi-Scale Enhanced Dilated Attention mechanism (MSEDA), Positional Convolutional Block Attention Module (PCBAM), and Channel Aggregation Feature Fusion Block (CAB). Specifically, MSEDA employs a multi-scale feature fusion attention mechanism to adaptively aggregate information across different scales, enriching feature representation. PCBAM captures the correlation between global and local features through a correlation matrix-based strategy, enabling deep feature interaction. Moreover, CAB enhances the representation of critical features by assigning greater weights to them, integrating both low-level and high-level information, and thereby improving the models detection performance in complex backgrounds. The experimental results demonstrate that MSCA-Net achieves strong small target detection performance in complex backgrounds. Specifically, it attains mIoU scores of 78.43%, 94.56%, and 67.08% on the NUAA-SIRST, NUDT-SIRST, and IRTSD-1K datasets, respectively, underscoring its effectiveness and strong potential for real-world applications.