CNGOD-An improved convolution neural network with grasshopper optimization for detection of COVID-19.

Abstract

The world is facing the pandemic situation due to a beta corona virus named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease caused by this virus known as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the entire world. The current diagnosis methods are laboratory based and require specialized testing kits for performing the test. Therefore, to overcome the limitations of testing kits a diagnosis method from chest X-ray images is proposed in this paper. Chest X-ray images can be easily obtained by X-ray machines that are readily available at medical centres. The radiological examinations augmented with chest X-ray images is an effective way of disease diagnosis. The automated analysis of the chest X-ray images requires a highly efficient method for identifying COVID-19 from these images. Thus, a novel deep convolution neural network (CNN) optimized using Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is proposed. The deep learning model comprises depth wise separable convolutions that independently look at cross channel and spatial correlations. The optimization of deep learning models is a complex task due the multiple layers and their non-linearities. In image classification problems optimizers like Adam, SGD etc. get stuck in local minima. Thus, in this paper a metaheuristic optimization algorithm is used to optimize the network. Grasshoper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is a metaheuristic algorithm that mimics the behaviour of grasshoppers for food search. This algorithm is a fast converging and is capable of exploration and exploitation of large search spaces. Maximum Probability Based Cross Entropy Loss (MPCE) loss function is used as it minimizes the back propogation error of cross entropy and improves the training. The experimental results show that the proposed method gives high classification accuracy. The interpretation of results is augmented with class activation maps. Grad-CAM visualization algorithm is used for class activation maps.