What are convolutional neural networks?

Neural networks are a subset of machine learning, and they are at the heart of deep learning algorithms. They are comprised of node layers, containing an input layer, one or more hidden layers, and an output layer. Each node connects to another and has an associated weight and threshold. If the output of any individual node is above the specified threshold value, that node is activated, sending data to the next layer of the network. Otherwise, no data is passed along to the next layer of the network.

While we primarily focused on feedforward networks in that article, there are various types of neural nets, which are used for different use cases and data types. For example, recurrent neural networks are commonly used for natural language processing and speech recognition whereas convolutional neural networks (ConvNets or CNNs) are more often utilized for classification and computer vision tasks. Prior to CNNs, manual, time-consuming feature extraction methods were used to identify objects in images. However, convolutional neural networks now provide a more scalable approach to image classification and object recognition tasks, leveraging principles from linear algebra, specifically matrix multiplication, to identify patterns within an image. That said, they can be computationally demanding, requiring graphical processing units (GPUs) to train models.

Convolutional neural networks are distinguished from other neural networks by their superior performance with image, speech or audio signal inputs. They have three main types of layers, which are:

• Convolutional layer
• Pooling layer
• Fully-connected (FC) layer

The convolutional layer is the first layer of a convolutional network. While convolutional layers can be followed by additional convolutional layers or pooling layers, the fully-connected layer is the final layer. With each layer, the CNN increases in its complexity, identifying greater portions of the image. Earlier layers focus on simple features, such as colors and edges. As the image data progresses through the layers of the CNN, it starts to recognize larger elements or shapes of the object until it finally identifies the intended object.

The convolutional layer is the core building block of a CNN, and it is where the majority of computation occurs. It requires a few components, which are input data, a filter and a feature map. Let’s assume that the input will be a color image, which is made up of a matrix of pixels in 3D. This means that the input will have three dimensions—a height, width and depth—which correspond to RGB in an image. We also have a feature detector, also known as a kernel or a filter, which will move across the receptive fields of the image, checking if the feature is present. This process is known as a convolution.

The feature detector is a two-dimensional (2-D) array of weights, which represents part of the image. While they can vary in size, the filter size is typically a 3x3 matrix; this also determines the size of the receptive field. The filter is then applied to an area of the image, and a dot product is calculated between the input pixels and the filter. This dot product is then fed into an output array. Afterwards, the filter shifts by a stride, repeating the process until the kernel has swept across the entire image. The final output from the series of dot products from the input and the filter is known as a feature map, activation map or a convolved feature.

Note that the weights in the feature detector remain fixed as it moves across the image, which is also known as parameter sharing. Some parameters such as the weight values, adjust during training through the process of backpropagation and gradient descent. However, there are three hyperparameters which affect the volume size of the output that need to be set before the training of the neural network begins. These include:

1. The number of filters affects the depth of the output. For example, three distinct filters would yield three different feature maps, creating a depth of three. 

2. Stride is the distance, or number of pixels, that the kernel moves over the input matrix. While stride values of two or greater is rare, a larger stride yields a smaller output.

3. Zero-padding is usually used when the filters do not fit the input image. This sets all elements that fall outside of the input matrix to zero, producing a larger or equally sized output. There are three types of padding:

• Valid padding: This is also known as no padding. In this case, the last convolution is dropped if dimensions do not align.
• Same padding: This padding ensures that the output layer has the same size as the input layer.
• Full padding: This type of padding increases the size of the output by adding zeros to the border of the input.

After each convolution operation, a CNN applies a Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) transformation to the feature map, introducing nonlinearity to the model.

As we mentioned earlier, another convolution layer can follow the initial convolution layer. When this happens, the structure of the CNN can become hierarchical as the later layers can see the pixels within the receptive fields of prior layers. As an example, let’s assume that we’re trying to determine if an image contains a bicycle. You can think of the bicycle as a sum of parts. It is comprised of a frame, handlebars, wheels, pedals, and so on. Each individual part of the bicycle makes up a lower-level pattern in the neural net, and the combination of its parts represents a higher-level pattern, creating a feature hierarchy within the CNN. Ultimately, the convolutional layer converts the image into numerical values, allowing the neural network to interpret and extract relevant patterns.

Pooling layers, also known as downsampling, conducts dimensionality reduction, reducing the number of parameters in the input. Similar to the convolutional layer, the pooling operation sweeps a filter across the entire input, but the difference is that this filter does not have any weights. Instead, the kernel applies an aggregation function to the values within the receptive field, populating the output array. There are two main types of pooling:

• Max pooling: As the filter moves across the input, it selects the pixel with the maximum value to send to the output array. As an aside, this approach tends to be used more often compared to average pooling.
• Average pooling: As the filter moves across the input, it calculates the average value within the receptive field to send to the output array.

While a lot of information is lost in the pooling layer, it also has a number of benefits to the CNN. They help to reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and limit risk of overfitting. 

The name of the full-connected layer aptly describes itself. As mentioned earlier, the pixel values of the input image are not directly connected to the output layer in partially connected layers. However, in the fully-connected layer, each node in the output layer connects directly to a node in the previous layer.

This layer performs the task of classification based on the features extracted through the previous layers and their different filters. While convolutional and pooling layers tend to use ReLu functions, FC layers usually leverage a softmax activation function to classify inputs appropriately, producing a probability from 0 to 1.

Kunihiko Fukushima and Yann LeCun laid the foundation of research around convolutional neural networks in their work in 1980 (PDF) and “Backpropagation Applied to Handwritten Zip Code Recognition” in 1989, respectively. More famously, Yann LeCun successfully applied backpropagation to train neural networks to identify and recognize patterns within a series of handwritten zip codes. He would continue his research with his team throughout the 1990s, culminating with “LeNet-5”, which applied the same principles of prior research to document recognition. Since then, a number of variant CNN architectures have emerged with the introduction of new datasets, such as MNIST and CIFAR-10, and competitions, similar to ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC). Some of these other architectures include:

• AlexNet (PDF)
• VGGNet (PDF)
• GoogLeNet (PDF)
• ResNet (PDF)
• ZFNet

However, LeNet-5 is known as the classic CNN architecture.

Convolutional neural networks power image recognition and computer vision tasks. Computer vision is a field of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables computers and systems to derive meaningful information from digital images, videos and other visual inputs, and based on those inputs, it can take action. This ability to provide recommendations distinguishes it from image recognition tasks. Some common applications of this computer vision today can be seen in:

• Marketing: Social media platforms provide suggestions on who might be in a photograph that has been posted on a profile, making it easier to tag friends in photo albums. 
• Healthcare: Computer vision has been incorporated into radiology technology, enabling doctors to better identify cancerous tumors in healthy anatomy.
• Retail: Visual search has been incorporated into some e-commerce platforms, allowing brands to recommend items that would complement an existing wardrobe.
• Automotive: While the age of driverless cars hasn’t quite emerged, the underlying technology has started to make its way into automobiles, improving driver and passenger safety through features such as lane line detection.