@article{amirkhani_cracksight_2025,

title = {CrackSight: An Efficient Crack Segmentation Model in Varying Acquisition Ranges and Complex Backgrounds},

author = {D. Amirkhani and M. S. Allili and J. -F. Lapointe},

url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105011756992&doi=10.1109%2FTASE.2025.3591407&partnerID=40&md5=d908b79e863a4725d10bec325b761f34},

doi = {10.1109/TASE.2025.3591407},

issn = {15455955 (ISSN)},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-01},

journal = {IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering},

volume = {22},

pages = {19197–19214},

abstract = {Accurate crack segmentation in concrete transportation infrastructures is critical for ensuring structural integrity and facilitating timely maintenance interventions. This paper presents CrackSight, an end-to-end deep learning model for precise crack segmentation across varying observational ranges and extremely complex backgrounds. CrackSight seamlessly integrates crack detection and segmentation through two branches. The Detection Feature Extraction Branch (DFEB) provides global context for crack localization in complex backgrounds or at far observation ranges. It guides the segmentation model to focus on regions with the highest crack-prone potential. The segmentation branch leverages the fusion of multi-scale feature maps using dilated convolutions, allowing to capture subtle and complex crack patterns. The branch also incorporates the Dual-Attention Linear Focus Mechanism (DALFM) enhancing crack segmentation through saliency-driven improvements. Finally, CrackSight uses a novel hybrid contextual loss, which dynamically compensates for class imbalance and enhance crack discrimination against complex backgrounds. Our model is also lightweight and can be run in resource-constrained environments, making it suitable for real-world inspection using mobile platforms. Our results demonstrate that it significantly improves segmentation accuracy, setting a new benchmark for crack segmentation. The dataset and additional resources are available on GitHub. Note to Practitioners—CrackSight is a dual-branch deep learning framework designed for accurate and efficient segmentation of concrete cracks under challenging real-world conditions. By combining a detection-guided localization branch with a context-aware segmentation, CrackSight offers enhanced robustness to noise, background clutter, and varying acquisition distances, common challenges in UAV-based infrastructure inspections. Its architecture integrates multi-scale feature fusion and adaptive contextual guidance, enabling reliable detection of both fine and fragmented cracks. With its lightweight design and fast inference time, CrackSight offers practitioners a practical and scalable solution for automating visual inspection tasks, reducing manual effort, and improving safety in structural health monitoring workflows. © 2025 IEEE.},

keywords = {Attention mechanisms, Codes (symbols), Complex background, complex backgrounds, Crack detection, Crack propagation, Crack segmentation, Crack segmentations, Detection features, End to end, Feature extraction, Features extraction, Global context, Image segmentation, Learning models, Learning systems, Segmentation models, Transportation infrastructures},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{lapointe_ai-ar_2022,

title = {AI-AR for Bridge Inspection by Drone},

author = {J. -F. Lapointe and M. S. Allili and L. Belliveau and L. Hebbache and D. Amirkhani and H. Sekkati},

editor = {Fragomeni G. Chen J.Y.},

url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85131961739&doi=10.1007%2f978-3-031-06015-1_21&partnerID=40&md5=f57dfc1d9207b936684f18893eb5bfa7},

doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-06015-1_21},

issn = {03029743},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-01-01},

journal = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)},

volume = {13318 LNCS},

pages = {302–313},

publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH},

abstract = {Good and regular inspections of transportation infrastructures such as bridges and overpasses are necessary to maintain the safety of the public who uses them and the integrity of the structures. Until recently, these inspections were done entirely manually by using mainly visual inspection to detect defects on the structure. In the last few years, inspection by drone is an emerging way of achieving inspection that allows more efficient access to the structure. This paper describes a human-in-the-loop system that combines AI and AR for bridge inspection by drone. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.},

note = {ISBN: 9783031060144},

keywords = {AR, augmented reality, Bridge inspection, Bridges, Deep learning, Drone, Drones, Human-in-the-loop, Inspection, Regular inspections, Remote guidance, RPAS, Transportation infrastructures, Visual inspection},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}