Optimization of Convolutional Neural Network Using the Linearly Decreasing Weight Particle Swarm Optimization

Convolutional neural network (CNN) is one of the most frequently used deep learning techniques. Various forms of models have been proposed and improved for learning at CNN. When learning with CNN, it is necessary to determine the optimal hyperparameters. However, the number of hyperparameters is so large that it is difficult to do it manually, so much research has been done on automation. A method that uses metaheuristic algorithms is attracting attention in research on hyperparameter optimization. Metaheuristic algorithms are naturally inspired and include evolution strategies, genetic algorithms, antcolony optimization and particle swarm optimization. In particular, particle swarm optimization converges faster than genetic algorithms, and various models have been proposed. In this paper, we propose CNN hyperparameter optimization with linearly decreasing weight particle swarm optimization (LDWPSO). In the experiment, the MNIST data set and CIFAR-10 data set, which are often used as benchmark data sets, are used. By optimizing CNN hyperparameters with LDWPSO, learning the MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets, we compare the accuracy with a standard CNN based on LeNet-5. As a result, when using the MNIST dataset, the baseline CNN is 94.02% at the 5th epoch, compared to 98.95% for LDWPSO CNN, which improves accuracy. When using the CIFAR-10 dataset, the Baseline CNN is 28.07% at the 10th epoch, compared to 69.37% for the LDWPSO CNN, which greatly improves accuracy.