Embedded Vision Machine Learning on Embedded Devices for Image classification in Industrial Internet of things

Abstract: Because of Machine Learning, machines have become extremely good at image classification in near real time. With using significant training data, powerful machines can be trained to recognize images as good as any human would. Till now the norm has been to have pictures sent to a server and have the server recognize them. With increasing number of sensors the trend is moving towards edge computing to curb the increasing rate of data transfer and communication bottlenecks. The idea is to do the processing locally or as close to the sensor as possible and then only transmit actionable data to the server. While, this does solve plethora of communication problems, specially in industrial settings, it creates a new problem. The sensors need to do this computationally intensive image classification which is a challenge for embedded/wearable devices, due to their resource constrained nature. This thesis analyzes Machine Learning algorithms and libraries from the motivation of porting image classifiers to embedded devices. This includes, comparing different supervised Machine Learning approaches to image classification and figuring out which are most suited for being ported to embedded devices. Taking a step forward in making the process of testing and implementing Machine Learning algorithms as easy as their desktop counterparts. The goal is to ease the process of porting new image recognition and classification algorithms on a host of different embedded devices and to provide motivations behind design decisions. The final proposal goes through all design considerations and implements a prototype that is hardware independent. Which can be used as a reference for designing and then later porting of Machine Learning classifiers to embedded devices.