# Layerwise Progressive Freezing Enables STE-Free Training of Deep Binary Neural Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.22660 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22660/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 38 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Estimating or Propagating Gradients Through Stochastic Neurons for Conditional Computation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1308.3432/) (2013)
- [XNOR-Net: ImageNet Classification Using Binary Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.05279/) (2016)
- [Learned Step Size Quantization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.08153/) (2019)
- [DoReFa-Net: Training Low Bitwidth Convolutional Neural Networks with Low Bitwidth Gradients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.06160/) (2016)
- [PACT: Parameterized Clipping Activation for Quantized Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.06085/) (2018)
- [Quantized Neural Networks: Training Neural Networks with Low Precision Weights and Activations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.07061/) (2016)
- [LQ-Nets: Learned Quantization for Highly Accurate and Compact Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.10029/) (2018)
- [Bi-Real Net: Enhancing the Performance of 1-bit CNNs With Improved Representational Capability and Advanced Training Algorithm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.00278/) (2018)
- [Incremental Network Quantization: Towards Lossless CNNs with Low-Precision Weights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03044/) (2017)
- [ReActNet: Towards Precise Binary Neural Network with Generalized Activation Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.03488/) (2020)
- [Forward and Backward Information Retention for Accurate Binary Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.10788/) (2019)
- [Towards Accurate Binary Convolutional Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.11294/) (2017)
- [Overcoming Oscillations in Quantization-Aware Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11086/) (2022)
- [XNOR-Net++: Improved Binary Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.13863/) (2019)
- [Defensive Quantization: When Efficiency Meets Robustness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.08444/) (2019)
- [Regularizing Activation Distribution for Training Binarized Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02823/) (2019)
- [Latent Weights Do Not Exist: Rethinking Binarized Neural Network Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02107/) (2019)
- [ProxQuant: Quantized Neural Networks via Proximal Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00861/) (2018)
- [Loss-aware Binarization of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.01600/) (2016)
- [ReCU: Reviving the Dead Weights in Binary Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.12369/) (2021)
- [Soft then Hard: Rethinking the Quantization in Neural Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.05168/) (2021)
- [How Do Adam and Training Strategies Help BNNs Optimization?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.11309/) (2021)
- [QKD: Quantization-aware Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.12491/) (2019)
- [ADMM-NN: An Algorithm-Hardware Co-Design Framework of DNNs Using Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.11677/) (2018)
- [AdaBin: Improving Binary Neural Networks with Adaptive Binary Sets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.08084/) (2022)
- [Projection Convolutional Neural Networks for 1-bit CNNs via Discrete Back Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.12755/) (2018)
- [Circulant Binary Convolutional Networks: Enhancing the Performance of 1-bit DCNNs with Circulant Back Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.10853/) (2019)
- [BinaryRelax: A Relaxation Approach For Training Deep Neural Networks With Quantized Weights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.06313/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We investigate progressive freezing as an alternative to straight-through estimators (STE) for training binary networks from scratch. Under controlled training conditions, we find that while global progressive freezing works for binary-weight networks, it fails for full binary neural networks due to activation-induced gradient blockades. We introduce StoMPP (Stochastic Masked Partial Progressive Binarization), which uses layerwise stochastic masking to progressively replace differentiable clipped weights/activations with hard binary step functions, while only backpropagating through the unfrozen (clipped) subset (i.e., no straight-through estimator). Under a matched minimal training recipe, StoMPP improves accuracy over a BinaryConnect-style STE baseline, with gains that increase with depth (e.g., for ResNet-50 BNN: +18.0 on CIFAR-10, +13.5 on CIFAR-100, and +3.8 on ImageNet; for ResNet-18: +3.1, +4.7, and +1.3). For binary-weight networks, StoMPP achieves 91.2% accuracy on CIFAR-10 and 69.5% on CIFAR-100 with ResNet-50. We analyze training dynamics under progressive freezing, revealing non-monotonic convergence and improved depth scaling under binarization constraints.