Improved YOLOv5 Network for High-Precision Three-Dimensional Positioning and Attitude Measurement of Container Spreaders in Automated Quayside Cranes

For automated quayside container cranes, accurate measurement of the three-dimensional positioning and attitude of the container spreader is crucial for the safe and efficient transfer of containers. This paper proposes a high-precision measurement method for the spreader’s three-dimensional position and rotational angles based on a single vertically mounted fixed-focus visual camera. Firstly, an image preprocessing method is proposed for complex port environments. The improved YOLOv5 network, enhanced with an attention mechanism, increases the detection accuracy of the spreader’s keypoints and the container lock holes. Combined with image morphological processing methods, the three-dimensional position and rotational angle changes of the spreader are measured. Compared to traditional detection methods, the single-camera-based method for three-dimensional positioning and attitude measurement of the spreader employed in this paper achieves higher detection accuracy for spreader keypoints and lock holes in experiments and improves the operational speed of single operations in actual tests, making it a feasible measurement approach.