Make Predictions Using `dlnetwork` Object

This example shows how to make predictions using a dlnetwork object by splitting data into mini-batches.

For large data sets, or when predicting on hardware with limited memory, make predictions by splitting the data into mini-batches. When making predictions with SeriesNetwork or DAGNetwork objects, the predict function automatically splits the input data into mini-batches. For dlnetwork objects, you must split the data into mini-batches manually.

Load `dlnetwork` Object

Load a trained dlnetwork object and the corresponding classes.

s = load("digitsCustom.mat");
dlnet = s.dlnet;
classes = s.classes;

Load Data for Prediction

Load the digits data for prediction.

digitDatasetPath = fullfile(matlabroot,'toolbox','nnet','nndemos', ...
    'nndatasets','DigitDataset');
imds = imageDatastore(digitDatasetPath, ...
    'IncludeSubfolders',true);

Make Predictions

Loop over the mini-batches of the test data and make predictions using a custom prediction loop.

Use minibatchqueue to process and manage the mini-batches of images. Specify a mini-batch size of 128. Set the read size property of the image datastore to the mini-batch size.

For each mini-batch:

Use the custom mini-batch preprocessing function preprocessMiniBatch (defined at the end of this example) to concatenate the data into a batch and normalize the images.
Format the images with the dimensions 'SSCB' (spatial, spatial, channel, batch). By default, the minibatchqueue object converts the data to dlarray objects with underlying type single.
Make predictions on a GPU if one is available. By default, the minibatchqueue object converts the output to a gpuArray if a GPU is available. Using a GPU requires Parallel Computing Toolbox™ and a supported GPU device. For information on supported devices, see GPU Computing Requirements (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

miniBatchSize = 128;
imds.ReadSize = miniBatchSize;

mbq = minibatchqueue(imds,...
    "MiniBatchSize",miniBatchSize,...
    "MiniBatchFcn", @preprocessMiniBatch,...
    "MiniBatchFormat","SSCB");

Loop over the minibatches of data and make predictions using the predict function. Use the onehotdecode function to determine the class labels. Store the predicted class labels.

numObservations = numel(imds.Files);
YPred = strings(1,numObservations);

predictions = [];

% Loop over mini-batches.
while hasdata(mbq)
    
    % Read mini-batch of data.
    dlX = next(mbq);
       
    % Make predictions using the predict function.
    dlYPred = predict(dlnet,dlX);
   
    % Determine corresponding classes.
    predBatch = onehotdecode(dlYPred,classes,1);
    predictions = [predictions predBatch];
  
end

Visualize some of the predictions.

idx = randperm(numObservations,9);

figure
for i = 1:9
    subplot(3,3,i)
    I = imread(imds.Files{idx(i)});    
    label = predictions(idx(i));
    imshow(I)
    title("Label: " + string(label))
  
end

Mini-Batch Preprocessing Function

The preprocessMiniBatch function preprocesses the data using the following steps:

Extract the data from the incoming cell array and concatenate into a numeric array. Concatenating over the fourth dimension adds a third dimension to each image, to be used as a singleton channel dimension.
Normalize the pixel values between 0 and 1.

function X = preprocessMiniBatch(data)    
    % Extract image data from cell and concatenate
    X = cat(4,data{:});
    
    % Normalize the images.
    X = X/255;
end