# Node-wise Feature Encoding for Neural Performance Prediction

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.27794 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.27794/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 30 of its 41 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Aug 2026.

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

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [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)
- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02216/) (2017)
- [MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.04381/) (2018)
- [Going Deeper with Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.4842/) (2014)
- [Fourier Features Let Networks Learn High Frequency Functions in Low Dimensional Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10739/) (2020)
- [Searching for MobileNetV3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02244/) (2019)
- [Accurate, Large Minibatch SGD: Training ImageNet in 1 Hour](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02677/) (2017)
- [SqueezeNet: AlexNet-level accuracy with 50x fewer parameters and <0.5MB model size](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07360/) (2016)
- [MnasNet: Platform-Aware Neural Architecture Search for Mobile](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.11626/) (2018)
- [Once-for-All: Train One Network and Specialize it for Efficient Deployment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.09791/) (2019)
- [ProxylessNAS: Direct Neural Architecture Search on Target Task and Hardware](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.00332/) (2018)
- [Graph Transformer Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.06455/) (2019)
- [FBNet: Hardware-Aware Efficient ConvNet Design via Differentiable Neural Architecture Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03443/) (2018)
- [NAS-Bench-201: Extending the Scope of Reproducible Neural Architecture Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.00326/) (2020)
- [Gated Attention for Large Language Models: Non-linearity, Sparsity, and Attention-Sink-Free](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06708/) (2025)
- [BigNAS: Scaling Up Neural Architecture Search with Big Single-Stage Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11142/) (2020)
- [NetAdapt: Platform-Aware Neural Network Adaptation for Mobile Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03230/) (2018)
- [BRP-NAS: Prediction-based NAS using GCNs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08668/) (2020)
- [NeuralPower: Predict and Deploy Energy-Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.05420/) (2017)
- [Transformers over Directed Acyclic Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13148/) (2022)
- [Unveiling Energy Efficiency in Deep Learning: Measurement, Prediction, and Scoring across Edge Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.18329/) (2023)
- [NAR-Former: Neural Architecture Representation Learning towards Holistic Attributes Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.08024/) (2022)
- [NAR-Former V2: Rethinking Transformer for Universal Neural Network Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.10792/) (2023)
- [Performance Prediction for Convolutional Neural Networks in Edge Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11297/) (2020)
- [NN-Former: Rethinking Graph Structure in Neural Architecture Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.00880/) (2025)
- [DIPPM: a Deep Learning Inference Performance Predictive Model using Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11733/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

As neural networks are increasingly deployed on resource constrained edge devices, accurate prediction of latency and energy is critical for efficient neural architecture search. Existing GNN and transformer based predictors achieve strong results but largely ignore node-level computational cost, limiting their ability to model performance critical operations. To address this, we introduce FeatureFormer, a neural performance predictor that incorporates explicit node-wise encodings of FLOPs, parameter counts, and memory proxies within a gated graph attention architecture. We also present NNEQ, a new large-scale energy consumption dataset that enables unified evaluation of latency and energy prediction. Extensive experiments demonstrate that FeatureFormer achieves state-of-the-art performance across both metrics, including challenging out-of-domain settings. Finally, we show that the proposed encoding is broadly applicable and consistently improves existing predictors with negligible overhead.