Test-Time Augmentation (TTA)
📚 This guide explains how to use Test Time Augmentation (TTA) during testing and inference for improved mAP and Recall with YOLOv5 🚀.
Before You Start
Clone repo and install requirements.txt in a Python>=3.8.0 environment, including PyTorch>=1.8. Models and datasets download automatically from the latest YOLOv5 release.
git clone https://github.com/ultralytics/yolov5 # clone
cd yolov5
pip install -r requirements.txt # install
Test Normally
Before trying TTA we want to establish a baseline performance to compare to. This command tests YOLOv5x on COCO val2017 at image size 640 pixels. yolov5x.pt is the largest and most accurate model available. Other options are yolov5s.pt, yolov5m.pt and yolov5l.pt, or your own checkpoint from training a custom dataset ./weights/best.pt. For details on all available models please see our YOLOv5 documentation.
python val.py --weights yolov5x.pt --data coco.yaml --img 640 --half
Output:
val: data=./data/coco.yaml, weights=['yolov5x.pt'], batch_size=32, imgsz=640, conf_thres=0.001, iou_thres=0.65, task=val, device=, single_cls=False, augment=False, verbose=False, save_txt=False, save_conf=False, save_json=True, project=runs/val, name=exp, exist_ok=False, half=True
YOLOv5 🚀 v5.0-267-g6a3ee7c torch 1.9.0+cu102 CUDA:0 (Tesla P100-PCIE-16GB, 16280.875MB)
Fusing layers...
Model Summary: 476 layers, 87730285 parameters, 0 gradients
val: Scanning '../datasets/coco/val2017' images and labels...4952 found, 48 missing, 0 empty, 0 corrupted: 100% 5000/5000 [00:01<00:00, 2846.03it/s]
val: New cache created: ../datasets/coco/val2017.cache
Class Images Labels P R mAP@.5 mAP@.5:.95: 100% 157/157 [02:30<00:00, 1.05it/s]
all 5000 36335 0.746 0.626 0.68 0.49
Speed: 0.1ms pre-process, 22.4ms inference, 1.4ms NMS per image at shape (32, 3, 640, 640) # <--- baseline speed
Evaluating pycocotools mAP... saving runs/val/exp/yolov5x_predictions.json...
...
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.504 # <--- baseline mAP
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.688
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.75 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.546
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= small | maxDets=100 ] = 0.351
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area=medium | maxDets=100 ] = 0.551
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= large | maxDets=100 ] = 0.644
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets= 1 ] = 0.382
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets= 10 ] = 0.628
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.681 # <--- baseline mAR
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= small | maxDets=100 ] = 0.524
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area=medium | maxDets=100 ] = 0.735
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= large | maxDets=100 ] = 0.826
Test with TTA
Append --augment to any existing val.py command to enable TTA, and increase the image size by about 30% for improved results. Note that inference with TTA enabled will typically take about 2-3X the time of normal inference as the images are being left-right flipped and processed at 3 different resolutions, with the outputs merged before NMS. Part of the speed decrease is simply due to larger image sizes (832 vs 640), while part is due to the actual TTA operations.
python val.py --weights yolov5x.pt --data coco.yaml --img 832 --augment --half
Output:
val: data=./data/coco.yaml, weights=['yolov5x.pt'], batch_size=32, imgsz=832, conf_thres=0.001, iou_thres=0.6, task=val, device=, single_cls=False, augment=True, verbose=False, save_txt=False, save_conf=False, save_json=True, project=runs/val, name=exp, exist_ok=False, half=True
YOLOv5 🚀 v5.0-267-g6a3ee7c torch 1.9.0+cu102 CUDA:0 (Tesla P100-PCIE-16GB, 16280.875MB)
Fusing layers...
/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/torch/nn/functional.py:718: UserWarning: Named tensors and all their associated APIs are an experimental feature and subject to change. Please do not use them for anything important until they are released as stable. (Triggered internally at /pytorch/c10/core/TensorImpl.h:1156.)
return torch.max_pool2d(input, kernel_size, stride, padding, dilation, ceil_mode)
Model Summary: 476 layers, 87730285 parameters, 0 gradients
val: Scanning '../datasets/coco/val2017' images and labels...4952 found, 48 missing, 0 empty, 0 corrupted: 100% 5000/5000 [00:01<00:00, 2885.61it/s]
val: New cache created: ../datasets/coco/val2017.cache
Class Images Labels P R mAP@.5 mAP@.5:.95: 100% 157/157 [07:29<00:00, 2.86s/it]
all 5000 36335 0.718 0.656 0.695 0.503
Speed: 0.2ms pre-process, 80.6ms inference, 2.7ms NMS per image at shape (32, 3, 832, 832) # <--- TTA speed
Evaluating pycocotools mAP... saving runs/val/exp2/yolov5x_predictions.json...
...
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.516 # <--- TTA mAP
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.701
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.75 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.562
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= small | maxDets=100 ] = 0.361
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area=medium | maxDets=100 ] = 0.564
Average Precision (AP) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= large | maxDets=100 ] = 0.656
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets= 1 ] = 0.388
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets= 10 ] = 0.640
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= all | maxDets=100 ] = 0.696 # <--- TTA mAR
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= small | maxDets=100 ] = 0.553
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area=medium | maxDets=100 ] = 0.744
Average Recall (AR) @[ IoU=0.50:0.95 | area= large | maxDets=100 ] = 0.833
Inference with TTA
detect.py TTA inference operates identically to val.py TTA: simply append --augment to any existing detect.py command:
python detect.py --weights yolov5s.pt --img 832 --source data/images --augment
Output:
YOLOv5 🚀 v5.0-267-g6a3ee7c torch 1.9.0+cu102 CUDA:0 (Tesla P100-PCIE-16GB, 16280.875MB)
Downloading https://github.com/ultralytics/yolov5/releases/download/v5.0/yolov5s.pt to yolov5s.pt...
100% 14.1M/14.1M [00:00<00:00, 81.9MB/s]
Fusing layers...
Model Summary: 224 layers, 7266973 parameters, 0 gradients
image 1/2 /content/yolov5/data/images/bus.jpg: 832x640 4 persons, 1 bus, 1 fire hydrant, Done. (0.029s)
image 2/2 /content/yolov5/data/images/zidane.jpg: 480x832 3 persons, 3 ties, Done. (0.024s)
Results saved to runs/detect/exp
Done. (0.156s)
PyTorch Hub TTA
TTA is automatically integrated into all YOLOv5 PyTorch Hub models, and can be accessed by passing augment=True at inference time.
import torch
# Model
model = torch.hub.load("ultralytics/yolov5", "yolov5s") # or yolov5m, yolov5x, custom
# Images
img = "https://ultralytics.com/images/zidane.jpg" # or file, PIL, OpenCV, numpy, multiple
# Inference
results = model(img, augment=True) # <--- TTA inference
# Results
results.print() # or .show(), .save(), .crop(), .pandas(), etc.
Customize
You can customize the TTA operations applied in the YOLOv5 forward_augment() method.
Benefits of Test-Time Augmentation
Test-Time Augmentation offers several key advantages for object detection tasks:
- Improved Accuracy: As demonstrated in the results above, TTA increases mAP from 0.504 to 0.516 and mAR from 0.681 to 0.696.
- Better Small Object Detection: TTA particularly enhances detection of small objects, with small area AP improving from 0.351 to 0.361.
- Increased Robustness: By testing multiple variations of each image, TTA reduces the impact of viewing angle, lighting, and other environmental factors.
- Simple Implementation: Requires only adding the
--augmentflag to existing commands.
The tradeoff is increased inference time, making TTA more suitable for applications where accuracy is prioritized over speed.
Supported Environments
Ultralytics provides a range of ready-to-use environments, each pre-installed with essential dependencies such as CUDA, CUDNN, Python, and PyTorch, to kickstart your projects.
- Free GPU Notebooks:
- Google Cloud: GCP Quickstart Guide
- Amazon: AWS Quickstart Guide
- Azure: AzureML Quickstart Guide
- Docker: Docker Quickstart Guide
Project Status
This badge indicates that all YOLOv5 GitHub Actions Continuous Integration (CI) tests are successfully passing. These CI tests rigorously check the functionality and performance of YOLOv5 across various key aspects: training, validation, inference, export, and benchmarks. They ensure consistent and reliable operation on macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu, with tests conducted every 24 hours and upon each new commit.
