ETNAS: An energy consumption task-driven neural architecture search

Defect recognition is an important task in intelligent manufacturing. Due to the subjectivity of human annotation, the collected defect data usually contains a lot of noise and unpredictable uncertainties, which have a great negative influence on defect recognition. It is a significant challenge to discover an effective defect recognition model with satisfactory uncertainty processing ability. A natural way is to automatically search for an efficient deep model, which can be realized by neural architecture search (NAS). To achieve this, we propose an efficient fuzzy NAS framework for defect recognition, where the searched architecture can effectively handle uncertain information from the given datasets. Specifically, we first design a fuzzy search space and the related encoding strategy for fuzzy NAS. Then, we propose a comparator-based evolutionary search approach, where an online end-to-end comparator is learned to directly determine the selection of candidate architectures from the evolutionary population. The comparator works in an end-to-end way and it transforms the complex ranking problem of evaluating architectures into a simple classification task, which overcomes the rank disorder issue suffered from traditional performance predictors. A series of experimental results demonstrate that the architecture with fewer #Params (1.22 M) search by fuzzy neural architecture search framework for defect recognition method achieves higher accuracy (92.26%) compared to the state-of-the-art results (i.e., DARTS-PV) on the ELPV dataset, as well as competitive results (accuracy = 76.4%, #Params = 1.04 M) on the CODEBRIM dataset. Experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed method in handling uncertain problems.

This paper proposes a neural architecture search (NAS) method for split computing. Split computing is an emerging machine-learning inference technique that addresses the privacy and latency challenges of deploying deep learning in IoT systems. In split computing, neural network models are separated and cooperatively processed using edge servers and IoT devices via networks. Thus, the architecture of the neural network model significantly impacts the communication payload size, model accuracy, and computational load. In this paper, we address the challenge of optimizing neural network architecture for split computing. To this end, we proposed NASC (NAS for Split Computing), which jointly explores optimal model architecture and a split point to achieve higher accuracy while meeting latency requirements (i.e., smaller total latency of computation and communication than a certain threshold). NASC employs a one-shot NAS that does not require repeating model training for a computationally efficient architecture search. Our performance evaluation using hardware (HW)-NAS-Bench of benchmark data demonstrates that the proposed NASC can improve the “communication latency and model accuracy” trade-off, i.e., reduce the latency by approximately 40–60% from the baseline, with slight accuracy degradation.

In this paper, we address the problem of neural architecture search (NAS) in a context where the optimality policy is driven by a black-box Oracle $\mathcal{O}$ with unknown form and derivatives. In this scenario, $\mathcal{O}(A_{C})$ typically provides readings from a set of sensors on how a neural network architecture $A_{C}$ fares in a target hardware, including its: power consumption, working temperature, $\mathbf{cpu}/\mathbf{gpu}$ usage, central bus occupancy, and more. Current differentiable NAS approaches fail in this problem context due to lack of access to derivatives, whereas traditional reinforcement learning NAS approaches remain too expensive computationally. As solution, we propose a reinforcement learning NAS strategy based on policy gradient with increasingly sparse rewards. We rely on the fact [1] that one does not need to fully train the weights of two neural networks to compare them. Our solution starts by comparing architecture candidates with almost fixed weights and no training, and progressively shifts toward comparisons under full weights training. Experimental results confirmed both the accuracy and training efficiency of our solution, as well as its compliance with soft/hard constraints imposed on the sensors feedback. Our strategy allows finding near-optimal architectures significantly faster, in approximately 1/3 of the time it would take otherwise.

In this paper, we tackle the challenging task of reconstructing Received Signal Strength (RSS) maps by harnessing location-dependent radio measurements and augmenting them with supplementary data related to the local environment. This side information includes city plans, terrain elevations, and the locations of gateways. The quantity of available supplementary data varies, necessitating the utilization of Neural Architecture Search (NAS) to tailor the neural network architecture to the specific characteristics of each setting. Our approach takes advantage of NAS’s adaptability, allowing it to automatically explore and pinpoint the optimal neural network architecture for each unique scenario. This adaptability ensures that the model is finely tuned to extract the most relevant features from the input data, thereby maximizing its ability to accurately reconstruct RSS maps. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using three distinct datasets, each corresponding to a major city. Notably, we observe significant enhancements in areas near the gateways, where fluctuations in the mean received signal power are typically more pronounced. This underscores the importance of NAS-driven architectures in capturing subtle spatial variations. We also illustrate how NAS efficiently identifies the architecture of a Neural Network using both labeled and unlabeled data for Radio Map reconstruction. Our findings emphasize the potential of NAS as a potent tool for improving the precision and applicability of RSS map reconstruction techniques in urban environments.

Decision of the model complexity is a significant challenge in contemporary data-driven modeling applications. Designing neural architecture involves the process of determining the optimal model complexity for deep neural networks (DNNs) models in order to uncover relationships in real-world data patterns. Consequently, optimizing DNN architectures is crucial for enhancing the practical approximation performance of DNN models to real-world data. This study implements a data-driven neuroevolution scheme for the optimal neural architecture search (NAS) and demonstrates a data-driven engineering application for cooling load estimation. The proposed neuroevolution scheme aims at evolving to the best generalizing DNN model that well suits the modeling complexity requirements of the dataset. To this end, the objective function for the neural architecture optimization process is simplified to the mean square error of the test dataset, which enables to reduce the risk of insufficient generalization during NAS. By employing this objective function for evolution field optimization (EFO), the proposed neuroevolution process can automatically achieve the optimal model complexity, preventing overfitting and underfitting cases, and thereby attaining almost the best generalization for the dataset. For this purpose, this approach combines parametric learning with the backpropagation algorithm and structural learning with EFO-based neural architecture search to address data-driven, optimal complexity DNN model generation problems. Effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in the cooling load estimation problem of residential buildings, and performances of the optimal DNN models with four objective functions are analyzed. The design of objective function for the best generalizing model is also elaborated.

There is a growing interest in automated neural architecture search (NAS) methods. They are employed to routinely deliver high-quality neural network architectures for various challenging data sets and reduce the designer's effort. The NAS methods utilizing multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are especially useful when the objective is not only to minimize the network error but also to minimize the number of parameters (weights) or power consumption of the inference phase. We propose a multi-objective NAS method based on Cartesian genetic programming for evolving convolutional neural networks (CNN). The method allows approximate operations to be used in CNNs to reduce the power consumption of a target hardware implementation. During the NAS process, a suitable CNN architecture is evolved together with approximate multipliers to deliver the best trade-offs between the accuracy, network size, and power consumption. The most suitable approximate multipliers are automatically selected from a library of approximate multipliers. Evolved CNNs are compared with common human-created CNNs of a similar complexity on the CIFAR-10 benchmark problem.

In the future, vehicles will be equipped with increasingly advanced interactive intelligent electronic devices, which will induce drivers to conduct secondary tasks, thereby leading to distractions. Therefore, the detection and early warning of driver distraction are essential for improving driving safety and pose an important challenge in intelligent transportation systems. Previous studies used traditional machine learning and deep learning transfer models, which have the disadvantages of complicated and time-consuming manual feature engineering, strong subjectivity, and weak generalization performance. In this paper, we propose a fine-grained detection method for driver distraction based on neural architecture search. First, we design an automatic construction algorithm for deep convolutional neural networks based on neural architecture search, which automatically searches for the optimal deep convolutional neural network architecture without human involvement. In addition, we fuse driver-related multisource perception information, use an automatically constructed deep convolutional neural network to extract high-dimensional mapping features, and implement fine-grained detection of various types of driver distraction states. The results on a large-scale multimodal driver distraction dataset demonstrate that our method can efficiently search an optimal deep convolutional neural network, which can quickly converge, and can accurately detect the considered types of driver distraction states, the average detection accuracy reaches 99.7796%; moreover, it has satisfactory robustness.

Deep Neural Networks are often vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Neural Architecture Search (NAS), one of the tools for developing novel deep neural architectures, demonstrates superior performance in prediction accuracy in various machine learning applications. However, the performance of a neural architecture discovered by NAS against adversarial attacks has not been sufficiently studied, especially under the regime of knowledge distillation. Given the presence of a robust teacher, we investigate if NAS would produce a robust neural architecture by inheriting robustness from the teacher. In this paper, we propose Robust Neural Architecture Search by Cross-Layer knowledge distillation (RNAS-CL), a novel NAS algorithm that improves the robustness of NAS by learning from a robust teacher through cross-layer knowledge distillation. Unlike previous knowledge distillation methods that encourage close student-teacher output only in the last layer, RNAS-CL automatically searches for the best teacher layer to supervise each student layer. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of RNAS-CL and show that RNAS-CL produces compact and adversarially robust neural architectures. Our results point to new approaches for finding compact and robust neural architecture for many applications. The code of RNAS-CL is available at https://github.com/Statistical-Deep-Learning/RNAS-CL.

Differentiable architecture search has demonstrated promising results in automatically designing neural network architectures with desired properties, such as high accuracy and low FLOPs. However, it suffers from a cumbersome training process, and the injection of constraints in the search phase often relies on some hand-crafted heuristic regularizers, the design of which typically requires tremendous human effort. In this paper, to address these critical challenges, we present FGA-NAS, an efficient method for resource-constrained architecture search. First, to reduce the computational cost and improve search flexibility, we propose a novel condensed search space that merges multiple parallel-placed candidates into a single one. Second, to enable the gradient-based optimization for neural architecture search (NAS) under multiple combinatorial constraints, we decompose the constrained NAS into a few simple sub-problems without introducing any heuristics by using the ADMM algorithm [1]. Then, the constrained NAS can be resolved by alternately solving the simple sub-problems. Experimental results on ImageNet show that our method can discover efficient and accurate neural network architectures that achieve the state-of-the-art by only using 0.2 GPU days.

A multi-perspective revisit to the optimization methods of Neural Architecture Search and Hyper-parameter optimization for non-federated and federated learning environments

Quantum circuit algorithms often require architectural design choices analogous to those made in constructing neural and tensor networks. These tend to be hierarchical, modular and exhibit repeating patterns. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) attempts to automate neural network design through learning network architecture and achieves state-of-the-art performance. We propose a framework for representing quantum circuit architectures using techniques from NAS, which enables search space design and architecture search. We use this framework to justify the importance of circuit architecture in quantum machine learning by generating a family of Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNNs) and evaluating them on a music genre classification dataset, GTZAN. Furthermore, we employ a genetic algorithm to perform Quantum Phase Recognition (QPR) as an example of architecture search with our representation. Finally, we implement the framework as an open-source Python package to enable dynamic circuit creation and facilitate circuit search space design for NAS.

Deep Learning and Beyond: AI’s New Horizons” is an expansive monograph that delves into the dynamic and rapidly evolving field of deep learning, a key area of artificial intelligence. This comprehensive work provides an insightful exploration of the revolutionary developments, foundational concepts, and future directions of deep learning, positioning itself as a crucial resource for understanding this transformative technology. The monograph commences with an introductory chapter that lays the groundwork by elucidating the background of machine learning and chronicling the ascent of deep learning. This foundational perspective is vital for comprehending the underlying principles and methodologies that have propelled deep learning to the forefront of technological innovation. Subsequent chapters delve into the “Historical Evolution” of AI, tracing the origins of neural networks from their early inception to the Renaissance period of deep learning. This historical analysis is pivotal in understanding the field’s trajectory and significant milestones. The “Foundations of Deep Learning” chapter presents an in-depth analysis of neural networks, covering their basic architecture, activation functions, layers, and the critical process of backpropagation and gradient descent. This is followed by examining “Advanced Neural Network Architectures,” where the focus shifts to state-of-the-art models such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and groundbreaking transformers and attention mechanisms. In addressing the “Training Deep Models,” the monograph explores regularization techniques, optimization strategies, and the increasingly significant role of transfer learning and pre-trained models. The application-oriented chapter, “Applications of Deep Learning,” showcases real-world implementations in domains like image recognition, natural language viii processing, and autonomous systems, illustrating deep learning technologies’ vast potential and versatility. The monograph also tackles the “Challenges in Deep Learning,” including overfitting, interpretability, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI deployment. It then ventures into the “Future of Deep Learning,” contemplating emerging trends such as integrating quantum computing, neural architecture search, and the convergence of neuroscience and deep learning. “Case Studies” provide practical insights and empirical evidence of the impact of deep learning. At the same time, the concluding chapter synthesizes the current state of deep learning, offers predictions for the future, and provides reflective thoughts on this transformative field. “Deep Learning and Beyond: AI’s New Horizons” educates and informs readers about the vast potential and future possibilities of deep learning and artificial intelligence. Keywords: Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Machine Learning, Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, Transformers, Quantum Computing, Ethical AI, Neural Architecture Search, Natural Language Processing, Autonomous Systems, AI in Healthcare, Future of AI, AI Applications, AI Challenges.

Convolutional architecture search based on particle swarm algorithm for functional brain network classification

Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has emerged as a crucial method for automating the design of deep learning models. Despite its potential, NAS frequently requires substantial computational and hardware resources. To mitigate these challenges, transferable NAS (TNAS) has been introduced, leveraging prior NAS results to enhance performance on new tasks. However, existing methods largely focus on knowledge transfer within identical neural search spaces, overlooking the potential for cross-domain transferability. Motivated by this gap, we explore evolutionary TNAS across heterogeneous search spaces by learning common neural representations. In particular, we introduce a novel approach that encodes both operational and topological information of neural architectures into a unified sequence using a simple tokenizer. This sequence is then processed by a variational auto-encoder, with a Transformer-based encoder to capture rich neural representations and a decoder that reconstructs the original sequence. By utilizing these latent representations, we further establish an inter-domain mapping that acts as a bridge, enabling effective explicit solution transfer among diverse search spaces to enhance the evolutionary NAS process. To harness this capability, we develop an evolutionary sequential transfer optimization approach that transfers knowledge during population initialization, providing both flexibility and adaptability. To the best of our knowledge, this work serves as the first attempt in the literature exploring evolutionary TNAS across diverse spaces. Moreover, we demonstrate the utility of our method through comprehensive empirical studies using different architecture spaces, including NAS-Bench-101, NAS-Bench-201, and the DARTS search space. Our results show that the proposed method significantly enhances the adaptability and performance of NAS across varied domains.

High-resolution representations (HR) are essential for dense prediction tasks such as segmentation, detection, and pose estimation. Learning HR representations is typically ignored in previous Neural Architecture Search (NAS) methods that focus on image classification. This work proposes a novel NAS method, called HR-NAS, which is able to find efficient and accurate networks for different tasks, by effectively encoding multiscale contextual information while maintaining high-resolution representations. In HR-NAS, we renovate the NAS search space as well as its searching strategy. To better encode multiscale image contexts in the search space of HR-NAS, we first carefully design a lightweight transformer, whose computational complexity can be dynamically changed with respect to different objective functions and computation budgets. To maintain high-resolution representations of the learned networks, HR-NAS adopts a multi-branch architecture that provides convolutional encoding of multiple feature resolutions, inspired by HRNet [73]. Last, we proposed an efficient fine-grained search strategy to train HR-NAS, which effectively explores the search space, and finds optimal architectures given various tasks and computation resources. As shown in Fig. 1 (a), HR-NAS is capable of achieving state-of-the-art trade-offs between performance and FLOPs for three dense prediction tasks and an image classification task, given only small computational budgets. For example, HR-NAS surpasses SqueezeNAS [63] that is specially designed for semantic segmentation while improving efficiency by 45.9%. Code is available at https://github.com/dingmyu/HR-NAS.