KARMA: Efficient Structural Defect Segmentation via Kolmogorov-Arnold Representation Learning

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ferdaus, Md Meftahul, Abdelguerfi, Mahdi, Ioup, Elias, Sloan, Steven, Niles, Kendall N., Pathak, Ken
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915603609026560
author Ferdaus, Md Meftahul
Abdelguerfi, Mahdi
Ioup, Elias
Sloan, Steven
Niles, Kendall N.
Pathak, Ken
author_facet Ferdaus, Md Meftahul
Abdelguerfi, Mahdi
Ioup, Elias
Sloan, Steven
Niles, Kendall N.
Pathak, Ken
contents Semantic segmentation of structural defects in civil infrastructure remains challenging due to variable defect appearances, harsh imaging conditions, and significant class imbalance. Current deep learning methods, despite their effectiveness, typically require millions of parameters, rendering them impractical for real-time inspection systems. We introduce KARMA (Kolmogorov-Arnold Representation Mapping Architecture), a highly efficient semantic segmentation framework that models complex defect patterns through compositions of one-dimensional functions rather than conventional convolutions. KARMA features three technical innovations: (1) a parameter-efficient Tiny Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (TiKAN) module leveraging low-rank factorization for KAN-based feature transformation; (2) an optimized feature pyramid structure with separable convolutions for multi-scale defect analysis; and (3) a static-dynamic prototype mechanism that enhances feature representation for imbalanced classes. Extensive experiments on benchmark infrastructure inspection datasets demonstrate that KARMA achieves competitive or superior mean IoU performance compared to state-of-the-art approaches, while using significantly fewer parameters (0.959M vs. 31.04M, a 97% reduction). Operating at 0.264 GFLOPS, KARMA maintains inference speeds suitable for real-time deployment, enabling practical automated infrastructure inspection systems without compromising accuracy. The source code can be accessed at the following URL: https://github.com/faeyelab/karma.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_08186
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle KARMA: Efficient Structural Defect Segmentation via Kolmogorov-Arnold Representation Learning
Ferdaus, Md Meftahul
Abdelguerfi, Mahdi
Ioup, Elias
Sloan, Steven
Niles, Kendall N.
Pathak, Ken
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Semantic segmentation of structural defects in civil infrastructure remains challenging due to variable defect appearances, harsh imaging conditions, and significant class imbalance. Current deep learning methods, despite their effectiveness, typically require millions of parameters, rendering them impractical for real-time inspection systems. We introduce KARMA (Kolmogorov-Arnold Representation Mapping Architecture), a highly efficient semantic segmentation framework that models complex defect patterns through compositions of one-dimensional functions rather than conventional convolutions. KARMA features three technical innovations: (1) a parameter-efficient Tiny Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (TiKAN) module leveraging low-rank factorization for KAN-based feature transformation; (2) an optimized feature pyramid structure with separable convolutions for multi-scale defect analysis; and (3) a static-dynamic prototype mechanism that enhances feature representation for imbalanced classes. Extensive experiments on benchmark infrastructure inspection datasets demonstrate that KARMA achieves competitive or superior mean IoU performance compared to state-of-the-art approaches, while using significantly fewer parameters (0.959M vs. 31.04M, a 97% reduction). Operating at 0.264 GFLOPS, KARMA maintains inference speeds suitable for real-time deployment, enabling practical automated infrastructure inspection systems without compromising accuracy. The source code can be accessed at the following URL: https://github.com/faeyelab/karma.
title KARMA: Efficient Structural Defect Segmentation via Kolmogorov-Arnold Representation Learning
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08186