# FCOS: A Two-Stage Recoverable Model Pruning Framework for Automatic Modulation Recognition

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.21571 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.21571/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 44 of its 101 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 44)

- [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)
- [Model soups: averaging weights of multiple fine-tuned models improves accuracy without increasing inference time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05482/) (2022)
- [Averaging Weights Leads to Wider Optima and Better Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.05407/) (2018)
- [Pruning Filters for Efficient ConvNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.08710/) (2016)
- [TIES-Merging: Resolving Interference When Merging Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01708/) (2023)
- [Channel Pruning for Accelerating Very Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06168/) (2017)
- [Merging Models with Fisher-Weighted Averaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.09832/) (2021)
- [Importance Estimation for Neural Network Pruning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.10771/) (2019)
- [Pruning neural networks without any data by iteratively conserving synaptic flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.05467/) (2020)
- [Dataless Knowledge Fusion by Merging Weights of Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09849/) (2022)
- [Filter Pruning via Geometric Median for Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Acceleration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.00250/) (2018)
- [Soft Filter Pruning for Accelerating Deep Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.06866/) (2018)
- [EIE: Efficient Inference Engine on Compressed Deep Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.01528/) (2016)
- [Data-Driven Sparse Structure Selection for Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.01213/) (2017)
- [Discrimination-aware Channel Pruning for Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.11809/) (2018)
- [Over the Air Deep Learning Based Radio Signal Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.04578/) (2017)
- [A Systematic DNN Weight Pruning Framework using Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03294/) (2018)
- [EMR-Merging: Tuning-Free High-Performance Model Merging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17461/) (2024)
- [Convolutional Radio Modulation Recognition Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.04105/) (2016)
- [Model Ratatouille: Recycling Diverse Models for Out-of-Distribution Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10445/) (2022)
- [Deep Model Fusion: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15698/) (2023)
- [LP++: A Surprisingly Strong Linear Probe for Few-Shot CLIP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.02285/) (2024)
- [Edge Learning for B5G Networks with Distributed Signal Processing: Semantic Communication, Edge Computing, and Wireless Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00422/) (2022)
- [FuseChat: Knowledge Fusion of Chat Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.07990/) (2024)
- [PCONV: The Missing but Desirable Sparsity in DNN Weight Pruning for Real-time Execution on Mobile Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05073/) (2019)
- [Pruning Filter in Filter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.14410/) (2020)
- [Faster CNNs with Direct Sparse Convolutions and Guided Pruning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.01409/) (2016)
- [NeuralPower: Predict and Deploy Energy-Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.05420/) (2017)
- [Understanding the Dynamics of DNNs Using Graph Modularity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12485/) (2021)

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

- [DUSE: A Data Expansion Framework for Low-resource Automatic Modulation Recognition based on Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.12011/) (2025)
- [ReStNet: A Reusable & Stitchable Network for Dynamic Adaptation on IoT Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.09066/) (2025)
- [Multi-Modal Machine Learning Framework for Predicting Early Recurrence of Brain Tumors Using MRI and Clinical Biomarkers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01161/) (2025)
- [A Multimodal Deep Learning Framework for Early Diagnosis of Liver Cancer via Optimized BiLSTM-AM-VMD Architecture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01164/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the rapid development of wireless communications and the growing complexity of digital modulation schemes, traditional manual modulation recognition methods struggle to extract reliable signal features and meet real-time requirements in modern scenarios. Recently, deep learning based Automatic Modulation Recognition (AMR) approaches have greatly improved classification accuracy. However, their large model sizes and high computational demands hinder deployment on resource-constrained devices. Model pruning provides a general approach to reduce model complexity, but existing weight, channel, and layer pruning techniques each present a trade-off between compression rate, hardware acceleration, and accuracy preservation. To this end, in this paper, we introduce FCOS, a novel Fine-to-COarse two-Stage pruning framework that combines channel-level pruning with layer-level collapse diagnosis to achieve extreme compression, high performance and efficient inference. In the first stage of FCOS, hierarchical clustering and parameter fusion are applied to channel weights to achieve channel-level pruning. Then a Layer Collapse Diagnosis (LaCD) module uses linear probing to identify layer collapse and removes the collapsed layers due to high channel compression ratio. Experiments on multiple AMR benchmarks demonstrate that FCOS outperforms existing channel and layer pruning methods. Specifically, FCOS achieves 95.51% FLOPs reduction and 95.31% parameter reduction while still maintaining performance close to the original ResNet56, with only a 0.46% drop in accuracy on Sig2019-12. Code is available at https://github.com/yaolu-zjut/FCOS.