Transfer learning using VGG-16 with Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Classifying Images

Traditionally, data mining algorithms and machine learning algorithms are engineered to approach the problems in isolation. These algorithms are employed to train the model in separation on a specific feature space and same distribution. Depending on the business case, a model is trained by applying a machine learning algorithm for a specific task. A widespread assumption in the field of machine learning is that training data and test data must have identical feature spaces with the underlying distribution. On the contrary, in real world this assumption may not hold and thus models need to be rebuilt from the scratch if features and distribution changes. It is an arduous process to collect related training data and rebuild the models. In such cases, Transferring of Knowledge or transfer learning from disparate domains would be desirable. Transfer learning is a method of reusing a pre-trained model knowledge for another task. Transfer learning can be used for classification, regression and clustering problems. This paper uses one of the pre-trained models – VGG 16 with Deep Convolutional Neural Network