Tiny Machine Learning: Progress and Futures
Not on the map. Why?
Abstract (arXiv)
Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) is a new frontier of machine learning. By squeezing deep learning models into billions of IoT devices and microcontrollers (MCUs), we expand the scope of AI applications and enable ubiquitous intelligence. However, TinyML is challenging due to hardware constraints: the tiny memory resource makes it difficult to hold deep learning models designed for cloud and mobile platforms. There is also limited compiler and inference engine support for bare-metal devices. Therefore, we need to co-design the algorithm and system stack to enable TinyML. In this review, we will first discuss the definition, challenges, and applications of TinyML. We then survey the recent progress in TinyML and deep learning on MCUs. Next, we will introduce MCUNet, showing how we can achieve ImageNet-scale AI applications on IoT devices with system-algorithm co-design. We will further extend the solution from inference to training and introduce tiny on-device training techniques. Finally, we present future directions in this area. Today's large model might be tomorrow's tiny model. The scope of TinyML should evolve and adapt over time.
Key facts. Cited by 40 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 103 of its 154 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 Mar 2024.
Builds on
103 of 154 references.
References · 103
- 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 60,361
- 2015Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognitioncited by 52,096
- 2014Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimizationcited by 37,240
- 2019PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Librarycited by 20,305
- 2014Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognitioncited by 15,364
- 2015Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Networkcited by 10,324
- 2015Batch Normalization: Accelerating Deep Network Training by Reducing Internal Covariate Shiftcited by 7,005
- 2019EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networkscited by 6,442
- 2022PaLM: Scaling Language Modeling with Pathwayscited by 5,326
- 2018MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottleneckscited by 4,795
- 2017MobileNets: Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks for Mobile Vision Applicationscited by 3,845
- 2018YOLOv3: An Incremental Improvementcited by 2,659
38 more
- 2015Deep Compression: Compressing Deep Neural Networks with Pruning, Trained Quantization and Huffman Codingcited by 2,329
- 2015Learning both Weights and Connections for Efficient Neural Networkscited by 2,031
- 2019Searching for MobileNetV3cited by 1,994
- 2018DARTS: Differentiable Architecture Searchcited by 1,798
- 2017Quantization and Training of Neural Networks for Efficient Integer-Arithmetic-Only Inferencecited by 1,593
- 2016Neural Architecture Search with Reinforcement Learningcited by 1,499
- 2016Federated Learning: Strategies for Improving Communication Efficiencycited by 1,475
- 2022SmoothQuant: Accurate and Efficient Post-Training Quantization for Large Language Modelscited by 1,386
- 2017ShuffleNet: An Extremely Efficient Convolutional Neural Network for Mobile Devicescited by 1,200
- 2018ShuffleNet V2: Practical Guidelines for Efficient CNN Architecture Designcited by 1,136
- 2021EfficientNetV2: Smaller Models and Faster Trainingcited by 1,135
- 2017Learning Transferable Architectures for Scalable Image Recognitioncited by 1,101
- 2020Designing Network Design Spacescited by 960
- 2018MnasNet: Platform-Aware Neural Architecture Search for Mobilecited by 943
- 2022LLM.int8(): 8-bit Matrix Multiplication for Transformers at Scalecited by 906
- 2019Relational Knowledge Distillationcited by 889
- 2016XNOR-Net: ImageNet Classification Using Binary Convolutional Neural Networkscited by 849
- 2016Training Deep Nets with Sublinear Memory Costcited by 848
- 2019Once-for-All: Train One Network and Specialize it for Efficient Deploymentcited by 787
- 2021Towards Total Recall in Industrial Anomaly Detectioncited by 776
- 2019Big Transfer (BiT): General Visual Representation Learningcited by 769
- 2017Channel Pruning for Accelerating Very Deep Neural Networkscited by 702
- 2017Learning Efficient Convolutional Networks through Network Slimmingcited by 676
- 2018ProxylessNAS: Direct Neural Architecture Search on Target Task and Hardwarecited by 673
- 2019Improved Knowledge Distillation via Teacher Assistantcited by 573
- 2016DoReFa-Net: Training Low Bitwidth Convolutional Neural Networks with Low Bitwidth Gradientscited by 569
- 2018Do Better ImageNet Models Transfer Better?cited by 565
- 2017Large Batch Training of Convolutional Networkscited by 535
- 2019Similarity-Preserving Knowledge Distillationcited by 516
- 2018FBNet: Hardware-Aware Efficient ConvNet Design via Differentiable Neural Architecture Searchcited by 485
- 2018PACT: Parameterized Clipping Activation for Quantized Neural Networkscited by 467
- 2018HAQ: Hardware-Aware Automated Quantization with Mixed Precisioncited by 443
- 2013DeCAF: A Deep Convolutional Activation Feature for Generic Visual Recognitioncited by 424
- 2019Single Path One-Shot Neural Architecture Search with Uniform Samplingcited by 414
- 2022Decoupled Knowledge Distillationcited by 388
- 2018AMC: AutoML for Model Compression and Acceleration on Mobile Devicescited by 378
- 2014CNN Features off-the-shelf: an Astounding Baseline for Recognitioncited by 316
- 2020Knowledge Distillation and Student-Teacher Learning for Visual Intelligence: A Review and New Outlookscited by 316
50 most cited of 103 All 103 (JSON)
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 8; 2025: 20; 2026: 12.
40 papers.
Sort:
By area:
- 2024On-Device Language Models: A Comprehensive Reviewcited by 104
- 2024Streaming Deep Reinforcement Learning Finally Workscited by 25
- 2025A Survey on Collaborative Mechanisms Between Large and Small Language Modelscited by 14
- 2025TeleSparse: Practical Privacy-Preserving Verification of Deep Neural Networkscited by 9
- 2024Self-Learning for Personalized Keyword Spotting on Ultra-Low-Power Audio Sensorscited by 7
- 2024On-Device Training of Fully Quantized Deep Neural Networks on Cortex-M Microcontrollerscited by 5
- 2025Can LLMs Revolutionize the Design of Explainable and Efficient TinyML Models?cited by 5
- 2025From Tiny Machine Learning to Tiny Deep Learning: A Surveycited by 5
- 2024Revisiting Matrix Sketching in Linear Bandits: Achieving Sublinear Regret via Dyadic Block Sketchingcited by 4
- 2025From LLMs to Edge: Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning on Edge Devicescited by 4
- 2025Cycle Training with Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation: Bridging Accuracy and Efficiency for Real-Time Mobile Scene Detectioncited by 3
- 2025A Multicore and Edge TPU-Accelerated Multimodal TinyML System for Livestock Behavior Recognitioncited by 3
28 more
- 2025Rounding-Guided Backdoor Injection in Deep Learning Model Quantizationcited by 3
- 2024A Progressive Framework of Vision-language Knowledge Distillation and Alignment for Multilingual Scenecited by 2
- 2024TinyML NLP Scheme for Semantic Wireless Sentiment Classification with Privacy Preservationcited by 2
- 2025Edge Intelligence for Wildlife Conservation: Real-Time Hornbill Call Classification Using TinyMLcited by 2
- 2025Hybrid Knowledge Transfer through Attention and Logit Distillation for On-Device Vision Systems in Agricultural IoTcited by 2
- 2025Edge Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Review of Evolution, Taxonomic Frameworks, and Future Horizonscited by 2
- 2024LightCL: Compact Continual Learning with Low Memory Footprint For Edge Devicecited by 1
- 2025Onboard Optimization and Learning: A Surveycited by 1
- 2025Designing Object Detection Models for TinyML: Foundations, Comparative Analysis, Challenges, and Emerging Solutionscited by 1
- 2025AI Compute Architecture and Evolution Trendscited by 1
- 2025AdaBet: Gradient-free Layer Selection for Efficient Training of Deep Neural Networkscited by 1
- 2025RISC-V Based TinyML Accelerator for Depthwise Separable Convolutions in Edge AIcited by 1
- 2026The Weight of a Bit: EMFI Sensitivity Analysis of Embedded Deep Learning Modelscited by 1
- 2026TrainDeeploy: Hardware-Accelerated Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning of Small Transformer Models at the Extreme Edgecited by 1
- 2025EmbBERT: Attention Under 2 MB Memorycited by 0
- 2025Compound and Parallel Modes of Tropical Convolutional Neural Networkscited by 0
- 2025Integration of TinyML and LargeML: A Survey of 6G and Beyondcited by 0
- 2025Beyond ImageNet: Understanding Cross-Dataset Robustness of Lightweight Vision Modelscited by 0
- 2026Towards Resilient Intrusion Detection in CubeSats: Challenges, TinyML Solutions, and Future Directionscited by 0
- 2026BioTrain: Sub-MB, Sub-50mW On-Device Fine-Tuning for Edge-AI on Biosignalscited by 0
- 2026On-Device Vision Training, Deployment, and Inference on a Thumb-Sized Microcontrollercited by 0
- 2026BitRL: Reinforcement Learning with 1-bit Quantized Language Models for Resource-Constrained Edge Deploymentcited by 0
- 2026One Channel to Rule Them All: Rethinking Input Representation for Visual Place Recognitioncited by 0
- 2026BayaHAR: Lightweight Bayesian Few-Shot User Adaptation for On-Device Personalized Human Activity Recognitioncited by 0
- 2026tinyDSM: A Framework for Skill Modeling and Development for Resource-Constrained Millirobotscited by 0
- 2026Adaptive AI: Energy Efficient Multi-exit TinyML on Intelligent Vision Systems at the Edgecited by 0
- 2026Rank-Reliable Teacher-Guided Fitness Approximation for Expensive Evolutionary Optimization: A TinyML Architecture Search Studycited by 0
- 2026Right In-Place (RiP) Convolution: A Simple, General, and Near-Optimal Strategy for Memory-Efficient CNN Inferencecited by 0
- 2026Right In-Place (RiP) Convolution: A Simple, General, and Near-Optimal Strategy for Memory-Efficient CNN Inference30 Sep 2026
- 2026Rank-Reliable Teacher-Guided Fitness Approximation for Expensive Evolutionary Optimization: A TinyML Architecture Search Study24 Sep 2026
- 2026tinyDSM: A Framework for Skill Modeling and Development for Resource-Constrained Millirobots18 Aug 2026
- 2026Adaptive AI: Energy Efficient Multi-exit TinyML on Intelligent Vision Systems at the Edge7 Jul 2026
- 2026BayaHAR: Lightweight Bayesian Few-Shot User Adaptation for On-Device Personalized Human Activity Recognition3 Jun 2026
- 2026One Channel to Rule Them All: Rethinking Input Representation for Visual Place Recognition31 May 2026
- 2026BitRL: Reinforcement Learning with 1-bit Quantized Language Models for Resource-Constrained Edge Deployment27 Apr 2026
- 2026On-Device Vision Training, Deployment, and Inference on a Thumb-Sized Microcontroller24 Apr 2026
- 2026BioTrain: Sub-MB, Sub-50mW On-Device Fine-Tuning for Edge-AI on Biosignals14 Apr 2026
- 2026Towards Resilient Intrusion Detection in CubeSats: Challenges, TinyML Solutions, and Future Directions7 Apr 2026
- 2026TrainDeeploy: Hardware-Accelerated Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning of Small Transformer Models at the Extreme Edge10 Mar 2026
- 2026The Weight of a Bit: EMFI Sensitivity Analysis of Embedded Deep Learning Models18 Feb 2026
28 more
- 2025RISC-V Based TinyML Accelerator for Depthwise Separable Convolutions in Edge AI26 Nov 2025
- 2025Beyond ImageNet: Understanding Cross-Dataset Robustness of Lightweight Vision Models1 Nov 2025
- 2025Rounding-Guided Backdoor Injection in Deep Learning Model Quantization5 Oct 2025
- 2025AdaBet: Gradient-free Layer Selection for Efficient Training of Deep Neural Networks3 Oct 2025
- 2025Edge Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Review of Evolution, Taxonomic Frameworks, and Future Horizons1 Oct 2025
- 2025AI Compute Architecture and Evolution Trends29 Aug 2025
- 2025Designing Object Detection Models for TinyML: Foundations, Comparative Analysis, Challenges, and Emerging Solutions11 Aug 2025
- 2025From LLMs to Edge: Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning on Edge Devices31 Jul 2025
- 2025From Tiny Machine Learning to Tiny Deep Learning: A Survey21 Jun 2025
- 2025Integration of TinyML and LargeML: A Survey of 6G and Beyond20 May 2025
- 2025A Survey on Collaborative Mechanisms Between Large and Small Language Models12 May 2025
- 2025Onboard Optimization and Learning: A Survey7 May 2025
- 2025TeleSparse: Practical Privacy-Preserving Verification of Deep Neural Networks27 Apr 2025
- 2025Hybrid Knowledge Transfer through Attention and Logit Distillation for On-Device Vision Systems in Agricultural IoT21 Apr 2025
- 2025Can LLMs Revolutionize the Design of Explainable and Efficient TinyML Models?13 Apr 2025
- 2025Cycle Training with Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation: Bridging Accuracy and Efficiency for Real-Time Mobile Scene Detection12 Apr 2025
- 2025A Multicore and Edge TPU-Accelerated Multimodal TinyML System for Livestock Behavior Recognition10 Apr 2025
- 2025Compound and Parallel Modes of Tropical Convolutional Neural Networks9 Apr 2025
- 2025Edge Intelligence for Wildlife Conservation: Real-Time Hornbill Call Classification Using TinyML3 Apr 2025
- 2025EmbBERT: Attention Under 2 MB Memory14 Feb 2025
- 2024TinyML NLP Scheme for Semantic Wireless Sentiment Classification with Privacy Preservation9 Nov 2024
- 2024Streaming Deep Reinforcement Learning Finally Works18 Oct 2024
- 2024Revisiting Matrix Sketching in Linear Bandits: Achieving Sublinear Regret via Dyadic Block Sketching14 Oct 2024
- 2024On-Device Language Models: A Comprehensive Review26 Aug 2024
- 2024Self-Learning for Personalized Keyword Spotting on Ultra-Low-Power Audio Sensors22 Aug 2024
- 2024On-Device Training of Fully Quantized Deep Neural Networks on Cortex-M Microcontrollers15 Jul 2024
- 2024LightCL: Compact Continual Learning with Low Memory Footprint For Edge Device15 Jul 2024
- 2024A Progressive Framework of Vision-language Knowledge Distillation and Alignment for Multilingual Scene17 Apr 2024
- 2024On-Device Language Models: A Comprehensive Reviewcited by 104
- 2025A Survey on Collaborative Mechanisms Between Large and Small Language Modelscited by 14
- 2025TeleSparse: Practical Privacy-Preserving Verification of Deep Neural Networkscited by 9
- 2024Self-Learning for Personalized Keyword Spotting on Ultra-Low-Power Audio Sensorscited by 7
- 2024On-Device Training of Fully Quantized Deep Neural Networks on Cortex-M Microcontrollerscited by 5
- 2025Can LLMs Revolutionize the Design of Explainable and Efficient TinyML Models?cited by 5
- 2025From Tiny Machine Learning to Tiny Deep Learning: A Surveycited by 5
- 2024Revisiting Matrix Sketching in Linear Bandits: Achieving Sublinear Regret via Dyadic Block Sketchingcited by 4
- 2025From LLMs to Edge: Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning on Edge Devicescited by 4
- 2025Cycle Training with Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation: Bridging Accuracy and Efficiency for Real-Time Mobile Scene Detectioncited by 3
- 2025A Multicore and Edge TPU-Accelerated Multimodal TinyML System for Livestock Behavior Recognitioncited by 3
- 2025Rounding-Guided Backdoor Injection in Deep Learning Model Quantizationcited by 3
12 most cited of 36 All 36 (JSON)
- 2026Right In-Place (RiP) Convolution: A Simple, General, and Near-Optimal Strategy for Memory-Efficient CNN Inference30 Sep 2026
- 2026Rank-Reliable Teacher-Guided Fitness Approximation for Expensive Evolutionary Optimization: A TinyML Architecture Search Study24 Sep 2026
- 2026Adaptive AI: Energy Efficient Multi-exit TinyML on Intelligent Vision Systems at the Edge7 Jul 2026
- 2026BayaHAR: Lightweight Bayesian Few-Shot User Adaptation for On-Device Personalized Human Activity Recognition3 Jun 2026
- 2026One Channel to Rule Them All: Rethinking Input Representation for Visual Place Recognition31 May 2026
- 2026BitRL: Reinforcement Learning with 1-bit Quantized Language Models for Resource-Constrained Edge Deployment27 Apr 2026
- 2026On-Device Vision Training, Deployment, and Inference on a Thumb-Sized Microcontroller24 Apr 2026
- 2026BioTrain: Sub-MB, Sub-50mW On-Device Fine-Tuning for Edge-AI on Biosignals14 Apr 2026
- 2026Towards Resilient Intrusion Detection in CubeSats: Challenges, TinyML Solutions, and Future Directions7 Apr 2026
- 2026TrainDeeploy: Hardware-Accelerated Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning of Small Transformer Models at the Extreme Edge10 Mar 2026
- 2026The Weight of a Bit: EMFI Sensitivity Analysis of Embedded Deep Learning Models18 Feb 2026
- 2025RISC-V Based TinyML Accelerator for Depthwise Separable Convolutions in Edge AI26 Nov 2025
12 newest of 36 All 36 (JSON)