A novel ResNet101 model based on dense dilated convolution for image classification

Abstract Image classification plays an important role in computer vision. The existing convolutional neural network methods have some problems during image classification process, such as low accuracy of tumor classification and poor ability of feature expression and feature extraction. Therefore, we propose a novel ResNet101 model based on dense dilated convolution for medical liver tumors classification. The multi-scale feature extraction module is used to extract multi-scale features of images, and the receptive field of the network is increased. The depth feature extraction module is used to reduce background noise information and focus on effective features of the focal region. To obtain broader and deeper semantic information, a dense dilated convolution module is deployed in the network. This module combines the advantages of Inception, residual structure, and multi-scale dilated convolution to obtain a deeper level of feature information without causing gradient explosion and gradient disappearance. To solve the common feature loss problems in the classification network, the up- down-sampling module in the network is improved, and multiple convolution kernels with different scales are cascaded to widen the network, which can effectively avoid feature loss. Finally, experiments are carried out on the proposed method. Compared with the existing mainstream classification networks, the proposed method can improve the classification performance, and finally achieve accurate classification of liver tumors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is further verified by ablation experiments. Highlights The multi-scale feature extraction module is introduced to extract multi-scale features of images, it can extract deep context information of the lesion region and surrounding tissues to enhance the feature extraction ability of the network. The depth feature extraction module is used to focus on the local features of the lesion region from both channel and space, weaken the influence of irrelevant information, and strengthen the recognition ability of the lesion region. The feature extraction module is enhanced by the parallel structure of dense dilated convolution, and the deeper feature information is obtained without losing the image feature information to improve the classification accuracy.