# Feature Fusion and Knowledge-Distilled Multi-Modal Multi-Target Detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00365 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00365/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 14 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 31 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Squeeze-and-Excitation Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.01507/) (2017)
- [CBAM: Convolutional Block Attention Module](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.06521/) (2018)
- [Searching for MobileNetV3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02244/) (2019)
- [EfficientDet: Scalable and Efficient Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.09070/) (2019)
- [A Comprehensive Overhaul of Feature Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01866/) (2019)
- [Multispectral Fusion for Object Detection with Cyclic Fuse-and-Refine Blocks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.12664/) (2020)
- [CrossKD: Cross-Head Knowledge Distillation for Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.11369/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In the surveillance and defense domain, multi-target detection and classification (MTD) is considered essential yet challenging due to heterogeneous inputs from diverse data sources and the computational complexity of algorithms designed for resource-constrained embedded devices, particularly for Al-based solutions. To address these challenges, we propose a feature fusion and knowledge-distilled framework for multi-modal MTD that leverages data fusion to enhance accuracy and employs knowledge distillation for improved domain adaptation. Specifically, our approach utilizes both RGB and thermal image inputs within a novel fusion-based multi-modal model, coupled with a distillation training pipeline. We formulate the problem as a posterior probability optimization task, which is solved through a multi-stage training pipeline supported by a composite loss function. This loss function effectively transfers knowledge from a teacher model to a student model. Experimental results demonstrate that our student model achieves approximately 95% of the teacher model's mean Average Precision while reducing inference time by approximately 50%, underscoring its suitability for practical MTD deployment scenarios.