Abstract
Given the high computational complexity and poor real-time performance of current photovoltaic cell surface defect detection methods, this study proposes a lightweight model, YOLOv8-FSD, based on YOLOv8. By introducing the FasterNet network to replace the original backbone network, computational complexity and memory access are reduced. A thin neck structure designed based on hybrid convolution technology is adopted to reduce model parameters and computational load further. A lightweight dynamic feature upsampling operator improves the feature map quality. Additionally, the regularized Gaussian distribution distance loss function is used to enhance the detection ability for small target defects. Experimental results show that the YOLOv8-FSD lightweight algorithm improves detection accuracy while significantly reducing the number of parameters and computational requirements compared to the original algorithm. This improvement provides an efficient, accurate, and lightweight solution for PV cell defect detection.