Intelligent Knowledge Exploration and Processing

Intelligent Knowledge Exploration and Processing

Prevention of Cheating in Online Exams at Isfahan University of Technology Using YOLO Technique and Multi-Agent Systems

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Isfahan University of Technology
Abstract
With the rapid growth of online education, maintaining academic integrity in virtual exams has become a major challenge for educational institutions. This research, which was simulated at the Isfahan University of Technology in a laboratory designed for online in-person exams, introduces an innovative system that utilizes a combination of the YOLO object detection algorithm and multi-agent systems (MAS) to detect and prevent cheating. In this system, the YOLO algorithm uses video analysis to detect unauthorized objects such as mobile phones and tablets, while the MAS analyzes students' abnormal behaviors, such as suspicious mouse clicks, unusual delays in responses, abnormal eye movement patterns, and the opening of unauthorized browser tabs, to identify potential cheating patterns. The system was simulated in test exams for popular general courses at Isfahan University of Technology, including Islamic Studies, Persian, and Ethics, and the results showed that it can detect cheating with 87.9% accuracy. Furthermore, with a processing speed of 0.1 to 0.15 seconds per frame, the system is capable of real-time execution. The findings of this study emphasize that combining deep learning algorithms and agent-based systems can provide an effective and scalable solution to enhance the security of online in-person exams, ultimately contributing to greater trust in online assessment processes and ensuring educational fairness.
Keywords

1.      Ali, L., Manzoor, N., Masood, H. A., & Abbas, A. (2024). Nanotechnology-Enabled Approaches to Mitigating Abiotic Stresses in Agricultural Crops. In Molecular Dynamics of Plant Stress and its Management (pp. 621-650). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
2.      Asep, H. S. (2019, July). A design of continuous user verification for online exam proctoring on M-learning. In 2019 international conference on electrical engineering and informatics (ICEEI) (pp. 284-289). IEEE.
3.      Erdem, B., & Karabatak, M. (2025). Cheating Detection in Online Exams Using Deep Learning and Machine Learning. Applied Sciences (2076-3417)15(1).
4.      Fatima, S., Jennings, N. R., & Wooldridge, M. (2024). Learning to resolve social dilemmas: a survey. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research79, 895-969.
5.      Hu, Z., Jing, Y., Wu, G., & Wang, H. (2024). Multi-Perspective Adaptive Paperless Examination Cheating Detection System Based on Image Recognition. Applied Sciences14(10), 4048.
6.      Saleem, B., Ahmed, M., Zahra, M., Hassan, F., Iqbal, M. A., & Muhammad, Z. (2024). A survey of cybersecurity laws, regulations, and policies in technologically advanced nations: A case study of Pakistan to bridge the gap. International Cybersecurity Law Review5(4), 533-561.
7.      Singh, T., Nair, R. R., Babu, T., & Duraisamy, P. (2024). Enhancing academic integrity in online assessments: Introducing an effective online exam proctoring model using yolo. Procedia Computer Science235, 1399-1408.
8.      Redmon, J., & Farhadi, A. (2018). YOLOv3: An incremental improvement. arXiv preprint, arXiv:1804.02767.
9.      Vinyals, O., Blundell, C., Lillicrap, T., & Wierstra, D. (2016). Matching networks for one shot learning. Advances in neural information processing systems29.
10.  Winiecki, E., Pawlicki, M., Pawlicka, A., Kozik, R., & Choraƛ, M. (2025, April). Evaluation of Selected Few-Shot Learning Methods in Network Intrusion Detection. In International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (pp. 10-20). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
11.  Zeng, W. (2024). Image data augmentation techniques based on deep learning: A survey. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering21(6), 6190-6224.