Data-Centric LoRA Adaptation and Trustworthy Edge Deployment of a Text-to-Image Diffusion Model for a Rights-Constrained Heritage Domain
Abstract
Public deployment of generative AI in cultural institutions is constrained by small, rights-restricted datasets, strict latency and runtime-stability requirements, and limits on visitor-data collection. This study presents a deployment-oriented framework for adapting a pre-trained text-to-image diffusion foundation model to a heritage-specific visual domain using Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA). A Stable Diffusion v1.5 backbone is specialized through data-centric curation and LoRA fine-tuning, then served through an asynchronous edge architecture that links a Unity client and a local Python (version 3.10) inference server for public-facing operation on a native 400 × 1080 vertical canvas. To support deployment decisions without collecting personally identifiable information, the system records only anonymous operational logs and evaluates sustained-load behavior under repeated inference. In a 1000-iteration profiling test, the proposed configuration maintained stable runtime behavior without observable upward memory drift, with a peak allocated VRAM of 3.04 GB and an average end-to-end latency of 3.12 s. An 8 h field deployment further indicated service continuity under public interaction, while a CLIP-based proxy analysis under matched prompts and seeds suggested improved relative style controllability after adaptation (0.848 vs. 0.799). Rather than claiming cultural authenticity or visitor-level effects, this study offers a data-centric, deployment-oriented methodology for operating public-facing generative AI under small-data, latency, and privacy constraints.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis
Scientific Computing and Data Management
Digital Humanities and Scholarship
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Electronics
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1685–1685
- Publication date
- 16 April 2026
- Language
- EN