Title
Fully Decoupled Neural Network Learning Using Delayed Gradients
Abstract
Training neural networks with backpropagation (BP) requires a sequential passing of activations and gradients. This has been recognized as the lockings (i.e., the forward, backward, and update lockings) among modules (each module contains a stack of layers) inherited from the BP. In this brief, we propose a fully decoupled training scheme using delayed gradients (FDG) to break all these lockings. The FDG splits a neural network into multiple modules and trains them independently and asynchronously using different workers (e.g., GPUs). We also introduce a gradient shrinking process to reduce the stale gradient effect caused by the delayed gradients. Our theoretical proofs show that the FDG can converge to critical points under certain conditions. Experiments are conducted by training deep convolutional neural networks to perform classification tasks on several benchmark data sets. These experiments show comparable or better results of our approach compared with the state-of-the-art methods in terms of generalization and acceleration. We also show that the FDG is able to train various networks, including extremely deep ones (e.g., ResNet-1202), in a decoupled fashion.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1109/TNNLS.2021.3069883
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Decoupled learning,delayed gradients,gradient shrinking (GS),neural network lockings
Journal
33
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
10
2162-237X
1
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.39
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Huiping Zhuang110.72
Wang Yi24232332.05
Qinglai Liu312.08
Zhiping Lin483983.62