Image Prediction - Search Space and Hyperparameter Optimization (HPO)

While the Image Prediction - Quick Start introduced basic usage of AutoGluon fit, evaluate, predict with default configurations, this tutorial dives into the various options that you can specify for more advanced control over the fitting process.

These options include: - Defining the search space of various hyperparameter values for the training of neural networks - Specifying how to search through your choosen hyperparameter space - Specifying how to schedule jobs to train a network under a particular hyperparameter configuration.

The advanced functionalities of AutoGluon enable you to use your external knowledge about your particular prediction problem and computing resources to guide the training process. If properly used, you may be able to achieve superior performance within less training time.

Tip: If you are new to AutoGluon, review Image Prediction - Quick Start to learn the basics of the AutoGluon API.

Since our task is to classify images, we will use AutoGluon to produce an ImagePredictor:

import autogluon.core as ag
from autogluon.vision import ImagePredictor

Create AutoGluon Dataset

Let’s first create the dataset using the same subset of the Shopee-IET dataset as the Image Prediction - Quick Start tutorial. Recall that there’s no validation split in original data, a 90/10 train/validation split is automatically performed when fit with train_data.

train_data, _, test_data = ImagePredictor.Dataset.from_folders('https://autogluon.s3.amazonaws.com/datasets/shopee-iet.zip')
data/
├── test/
└── train/

Specify which Networks to Try

We start with specifying the pretrained neural network candidates. Given such a list, AutoGluon tries to train different networks from this list to identify the best-performing candidate. This is an example of a autogluon.core.space.Categorical search space, in which there are a limited number of values to choose from.

model = ag.Categorical('resnet18_v1b', 'mobilenetv3_small')

# you may choose more than 70+ available model in the model zoo provided by GluonCV:
model_list = ImagePredictor.list_models()

Specify the training hyper-parameters

Similarly, we can manually specify many crucial hyper-parameters, with specific value or search space(autogluon.core.space).

batch_size = 8
lr = ag.Categorical(1e-2, 1e-3)

Search Algorithms

In AutoGluon, autogluon.core.searcher supports different search search strategies for both hyperparameter optimization and architecture search. Beyond simply specifying the space of hyperparameter configurations to search over, you can also tell AutoGluon what strategy it should employ to actually search through this space. This process of finding good hyperparameters from a given search space is commonly referred to as hyperparameter optimization (HPO) or hyperparameter tuning. autogluon.core.scheduler orchestrates how individual training jobs are scheduled. We currently support FIFO (standard) and Hyperband scheduling, along with search by random sampling or Bayesian optimization. These basic techniques are rendered surprisingly powerful by AutoGluon’s support of asynchronous parallel execution.

Bayesian Optimization

Here is an example of using Bayesian Optimization using autogluon.core.searcher.GPFIFOSearcher.

Bayesian Optimization fits a probabilistic surrogate model to estimate the function that relates each hyperparameter configuration to the resulting performance of a model trained under this hyperparameter configuration. Our implementation makes use of a Gaussian process surrogate model along with expected improvement as acquisition function. It has been developed specifically to support asynchronous parallel evaluations.

hyperparameters={'model': model, 'batch_size': batch_size, 'lr': lr, 'epochs': 2}
predictor = ImagePredictor()
predictor.fit(train_data, search_strategy='bayesopt', time_limit=60*10, hyperparameters=hyperparameters,
              hyperparameter_tune_kwargs={'num_trials': 2})
print('Top-1 val acc: %.3f' % predictor.fit_summary()['valid_acc'])
WARNING:gluoncv.auto.tasks.image_classification:The number of requested GPUs is greater than the number of available GPUs.Reduce the number to 1
INFO:gluoncv.auto.tasks.image_classification:Randomly split train_data into train[737]/validation[63] splits.
INFO:gluoncv.auto.tasks.image_classification:Starting HPO experiments
INFO:autogluon.core.scheduler.fifo:Starting Hyperparameter Tuning ... (time_out=600s)
scheduler: FIFOScheduler(
DistributedResourceManager{
(Remote: Remote REMOTE_ID: 0,
    <Remote: 'inproc://172.31.39.52/20826/1' processes=1 threads=8, memory=33.24 GB>, Resource: NodeResourceManager(8 CPUs, 1 GPUs))
})
  0%|          | 0/2 [00:00<?, ?it/s]
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:modified configs(<old> != <new>): {
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.valid.num_workers 4 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.valid.batch_size 128 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_train_idx ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/train.idx != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.num_training_samples 1281167 != -1
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.lr        0.1 != 0.01
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.epochs    10 != 2
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_train ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/train.rec != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.batch_size 128 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_val   ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/val.rec != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.data_dir  ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.num_workers 4 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_val_idx ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/val.idx != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.img_cls.model   resnet50_v1 != resnet18_v1b
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:}
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Saved config to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/config.yaml
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Start training from [Epoch 0]
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[0] Batch [49]       Speed: 200.001121 samples/sec   accuracy=0.387500       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[0] Batch [99]       Speed: 249.425335 samples/sec   accuracy=0.485000       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] training: accuracy=0.485000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] speed: 219 samples/sec  time cost: 5.261405
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] validation: top1=0.743750 top5=1.000000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] Current best top-1: 0.743750 vs previous 0.000000, saved to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Pickled to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[1] Batch [49]       Speed: 234.373783 samples/sec   accuracy=0.602500       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[1] Batch [99]       Speed: 248.022014 samples/sec   accuracy=0.625000       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] training: accuracy=0.625000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] Current best top-1: 0.807500 vs previous 0.743750, saved to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] speed: 238 samples/sec  time cost: 4.978520
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] validation: top1=0.807500 top5=1.000000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Pickled to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:modified configs(<old> != <new>): {
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_train_idx ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/train.idx != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.valid.num_workers 4 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.valid.batch_size 128 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.num_training_samples 1281167 != -1
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.lr        0.1 != 0.01
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.epochs    10 != 2
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_train ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/train.rec != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.batch_size 128 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_val   ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/val.rec != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.data_dir  ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.num_workers 4 != 8
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.train.rec_val_idx ~/.mxnet/datasets/imagenet/rec/val.idx != auto
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:root.img_cls.model   resnet50_v1 != mobilenetv3_small
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:}
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Saved config to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_1/config.yaml
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Start training from [Epoch 0]
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[0] Batch [49]       Speed: 119.735149 samples/sec   accuracy=0.300000       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[0] Batch [99]       Speed: 141.619284 samples/sec   accuracy=0.403750       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] training: accuracy=0.403750
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] validation: top1=0.698750 top5=1.000000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] speed: 128 samples/sec  time cost: 8.834906
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 0] Current best top-1: 0.698750 vs previous 0.000000, saved to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_1/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Pickled to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_1/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[1] Batch [49]       Speed: 125.531040 samples/sec   accuracy=0.575000       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Epoch[1] Batch [99]       Speed: 135.348287 samples/sec   accuracy=0.600000       lr=0.010000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] training: accuracy=0.600000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] speed: 128 samples/sec  time cost: 8.935273
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] validation: top1=0.783750 top5=1.000000
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:[Epoch 1] Current best top-1: 0.783750 vs previous 0.698750, saved to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_1/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Pickled to /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_1/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:ImageClassificationEstimator:Unpickled from /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/workspace/autogluon-tutorial-image-classification-v3/docs/_build/eval/tutorials/image_prediction/5262b344/.trial_0/best_checkpoint.pkl
INFO:gluoncv.auto.tasks.image_classification:Finished, total runtime is 52.51 s
INFO:gluoncv.auto.tasks.image_classification:{ 'best_config': { 'estimator': <class 'gluoncv.auto.estimators.image_classification.image_classification.ImageClassificationEstimator'>,
                   'gpus': [0],
                   'img_cls': { 'batch_norm': False,
                                'last_gamma': False,
                                'model': 'resnet18_v1b',
                                'use_gn': False,
                                'use_pretrained': True,
                                'use_se': False},
                   'train': { 'batch_size': 8,
                              'crop_ratio': 0.875,
                              'data_dir': 'auto',
                              'dtype': 'float32',
                              'epochs': 2,
                              'hard_weight': 0.5,
                              'input_size': 224,
                              'label_smoothing': False,
                              'log_interval': 50,
                              'lr': 0.01,
                              'lr_decay': 0.1,
                              'lr_decay_epoch': '40, 60',
                              'lr_decay_period': 0,
                              'lr_mode': 'step',
                              'mixup': False,
                              'mixup_alpha': 0.2,
                              'mixup_off_epoch': 0,
                              'mode': '',
                              'momentum': 0.9,
                              'no_wd': False,
                              'num_training_samples': -1,
                              'num_workers': 8,
                              'output_lr_mult': 0.1,
                              'pretrained_base': True,
                              'rec_train': 'auto',
                              'rec_train_idx': 'auto',
                              'rec_val': 'auto',
                              'rec_val_idx': 'auto',
                              'resume_epoch': 0,
                              'start_epoch': 0,
                              'teacher': None,
                              'temperature': 20,
                              'transfer_lr_mult': 0.01,
                              'use_rec': False,
                              'warmup_epochs': 0,
                              'warmup_lr': 0.0,
                              'wd': 0.0001},
                   'valid': {'batch_size': 8, 'num_workers': 8}},
  'total_time': 52.505592346191406,
  'train_acc': 0.6,
  'valid_acc': 0.78375}
Top-1 val acc: 0.784

The BO searcher can be configured by search_options, see autogluon.core.searcher.GPFIFOSearcher. Load the test dataset and evaluate:

top1, top5 = predictor.evaluate(test_data)
print('Test acc on hold-out data:', top1)
Test acc on hold-out data: 0.6625

Note that num_trials=2 above is only used to speed up the tutorial. In normal practice, it is common to only use time_limit and drop num_trials.

Hyperband Early Stopping

AutoGluon currently supports scheduling trials in serial order and with early stopping (e.g., if the performance of the model early within training already looks bad, the trial may be terminated early to free up resources). Here is an example of using an early stopping scheduler autogluon.core.scheduler.HyperbandScheduler. scheduler_options is used to configure the scheduler. In this example, we run Hyperband with a single bracket, and stop/go decisions are made after 1 and 2 epochs (grace_period, grace_period * reduction_factor):

hyperparameters.update({
  'search_strategy': 'hyperband',
  'grace_period': 1
  })

The fit, evaluate and predict processes are exactly the same, so we will skip training to save some time.

Bayesian Optimization and Hyperband

While Hyperband scheduling is normally driven by a random searcher, AutoGluon also provides Hyperband together with Bayesian optimization. The tuning of expensive DL models typically works best with this combination.

hyperparameters.update({
  'search_strategy': 'bayesopt_hyperband',
  'grace_period': 1
  })

For a comparison of different search algorithms and scheduling strategies, see Search Algorithms. For more options using fit, see autogluon.vision.ImagePredictor.