Drift detection on feature attributions for monitoring visual reinforcement learning models in maritime port surveillance [version 1; peer review: 3 approved]

Background Maritime activity is expanding globally, increasing the demand for robust port security systems capable of detecting illegal trafficking. Due to the growing sophistication of smuggling methods, law enforcement agencies require advanced surveillance and prevention technologies such as those developed in the SMAUG project. In this context, initiatives such as the SMAUG project aim to deliver integrated surveillance capabilities coordinated by a high-level deep reinforcement learning (DRL) decision-making system that operates on image-based environmental representations. Despite their effectiveness, DRL models are closed-boxes, complicating continuous model monitoring (CMM). Conventional drift detection captures shifts in input or output distributions yet often fails to explain underlying problems. Explainable AI (XAI) techniques can provide a complementary approach with insights into the agent’s inner workings, enabling monitoring of the concept rather than just the data. Methods We propose FADMON, an XAI-driven concept drift detection method for image-based models. FADMON performs statistical drift tests on feature attributions to detect deviations in learned policies. We demonstrate how FADMON can enhance CMM with a three-stage model monitoring architecture that enables semi-supervised explainable model monitoring. We validate our approach with SMAUG’s decision-making DRL model on a simulated maritime port surveillance environment under multiple unforeseen scenarios. Results FADMON consistently flags drift on all drifted scenarios with mean p-values of 0.000 with no variance trough 30 repetitions, with lower mean p-values (0.553±0.215) on non-drifted scenarios with respect to other established drift detection methodologies such as prior probability shift detection (0.65 ± 0.000), though well above the standard 0.05 threshold. Conclusions FADMON can add an explainability layer to the monitoring system while also supporting detection of changes in the underlying interpretation of the input data by the model, monitoring the concept rather than the data, while matching established drift detection methods metrics-wise.