# NetCut: Real-Time DNN Inference Using Layer Removal

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.05363 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.05363/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Jan 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Densely Connected Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.06993/) (2016)
- [Rethinking the Inception Architecture for Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.00567/) (2015)
- [MobileNets: Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks for Mobile Vision Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.04861/) (2017)
- [How transferable are features in deep neural networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.1792/) (2014)
- [BranchyNet: Fast Inference via Early Exiting from Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.01686/) (2017)
- [Quantizing deep convolutional networks for efficient inference: A whitepaper](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.08342/) (2018)
- [Efficient Processing of Deep Neural Networks: A Tutorial and Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.09039/) (2017)
- [Quantized Neural Networks: Training Neural Networks with Low Precision Weights and Activations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.07061/) (2016)
- [DeCAF: A Deep Convolutional Activation Feature for Generic Visual Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1310.1531/) (2013)
- [DeepDriving: Learning Affordance for Direct Perception in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.00256/) (2015)
- [Structured Pruning of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.08571/) (2015)
- [NetAdapt: Platform-Aware Neural Network Adaptation for Mobile Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03230/) (2018)
- [Edge Intelligence: On-Demand Deep Learning Model Co-Inference with Device-Edge Synergy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.07840/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [CLIP meets GamePhysics: Towards bug identification in gameplay videos using zero-shot transfer learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11096/) (2022)
- [Large Language Models are Pretty Good Zero-Shot Video Game Bug Detectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02506/) (2022)
- [Investigating Deep Learning Model Calibration for Classification Problems in Mechanics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00881/) (2022)
- [DcnnGrasp: Towards Accurate Grasp Pattern Recognition with Adaptive Regularizer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.05218/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Deep Learning plays a significant role in assisting humans in many aspects of their lives. As these networks tend to get deeper over time, they extract more features to increase accuracy at the cost of additional inference latency. This accuracy-performance trade-off makes it more challenging for Embedded Systems, as resource-constrained processors with strict deadlines, to deploy them efficiently. This can lead to selection of networks that can prematurely meet a specified deadline with excess slack time that could have potentially contributed to increased accuracy. In this work, we propose: (i) the concept of layer removal as a means of constructing TRimmed Networks (TRNs) that are based on removing problem-specific features of a pretrained network used in transfer learning, and (ii) NetCut, a methodology based on an empirical or an analytical latency estimator, which only proposes and retrains TRNs that can meet the application's deadline, hence reducing the exploration time significantly. We demonstrate that TRNs can expand the Pareto frontier that trades off latency and accuracy to provide networks that can meet arbitrary deadlines with potential accuracy improvement over off-the-shelf networks. Our experimental results show that such utilization of TRNs, while transferring to a simpler dataset, in combination with NetCut, can lead to the proposal of networks that can achieve relative accuracy improvement of up to 10.43% among existing off-the-shelf neural architectures while meeting a specific deadline, and 27x speedup in exploration time.