A Multi-Stage model based on YOLOv3 for defect detection in PV panels based on IR and Visible Imaging by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

As solar capacity installed worldwide continues to grow, there is an increasing awareness that advanced inspection systems are becoming of utmost importance to schedule smart interventions and minimize downtime likelihood. In this work we propose a novel automatic multi-stage model to detect panel defects on aerial images captured by unmanned aerial vehicle by using the YOLOv3 network and Computer Vision techniques. The model combines detections of panels and defects to refine its accuracy and exhibits an average inference time per image of 0.98 s. The main novelties are represented by its versatility to process either thermographic or visible images and detect a large variety of defects, to prescript recommended actions to O&M crew to give a more efficient data-driven maintenance strategy and its portability to both rooftop and ground-mounted PV systems and different panel types. The proposed model has been validated on two big PV plants in the south of Italy with an outstanding AP@0.5 exceeding 98% for panel detection, a remarkable AP@0.4 (AP@0.5) of roughly 88.3% (66.9%) for hotspots by means of infrared thermography and a mAP@0.5 of almost 70% in the visible spectrum for detection of anomalies including panel shading induced by soiling and bird dropping, delamination, presence of puddles and raised rooftop panels. The model predicts also the severity of hotspot areas based on the estimated temperature gradients, as well as it computes the soiling coverage based on visual images. Finally an analysis of the influence of the different YOLOv3's output scales on the detection is discussed.