# Selective Depthwise Separable Convolution for Lightweight Joint Source-Channel Coding in Wireless Image Transmission

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.22338 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.22338/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Apr 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.03924/) (2018)
- [Deep Learning Face Attributes in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.7766/) (2014)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [Generative Joint Source-Channel Coding for Semantic Image Transmission](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13772/) (2022)
- [SwinJSCC: Taming Swin Transformer for Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.09361/) (2023)
- [Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding for Adaptive Image Transmission over MIMO Channels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00470/) (2023)
- [AI-Generated Incentive Mechanism and Full-Duplex Semantic Communications for Information Sharing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.01896/) (2023)
- [Lightweight Diffusion Models for Resource-Constrained Semantic Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.02491/) (2024)
- [MambaJSCC: Adaptive Deep Joint Source-Channel Coding with Generalized State Space Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.16592/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Depthwise separable convolutional (DSConv) layers have been successfully applied to deep learning (DL)-based joint source-channel coding (JSCC) schemes to reduce computational complexity. However, a systematic investigation of the layerwise and ratio-wise replacement of standard convolutional (Conv) layers with DSConv layers in JSCC systems for wireless image transmission remains largely unexplored. In this letter, we propose a configurable lightweight JSCC framework that incorporates a selective replacement strategy, enabling flexible Conv-to-DSConv replacement at different replacement ratios and positions. By varying the replacement ratio, we obtain models with different computational complexities and analyze their impact on reconstruction performance. Furthermore, we investigate how replacements at different encoder and decoder depths influence reconstruction quality under a fixed replacement ratio. Our results show that Conv-to-DSConv replacement at the intermediate layers of the encoder and decoder achieves a favorable complexity-performance trade-off, revealing layer-wise redundancy in DL-based JSCC systems. Extensive experiments further demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves substantial parameter reduction with only slight performance degradation, enabling flexible complexity-performance trade-offs for resource-constrained edge devices.