Usage Description of the Integrated NNIE

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Directory Structures

The converter Directory Structure of the Model Conversion Tool

mindspore-lite-{version}-runtime-linux-x64
└── tools
    └── converter
        └── providers
            └── Hi3516D                # Embedded board model number
                ├── libmslite_nnie_converter.so        # Dynamic library for converting the integrated NNIE
                ├── libmslite_nnie_data_process.so     # Dynamic library for processing NNIE input data
                ├── libnnie_mapper.so        # Dynamic library for building NNIE binary files
                └── third_party       # Third-party dynamic library on which the NNIE depends
                    ├── opencv-4.2.0
                    │   └── libopencv_xxx.so
                    └── protobuf-3.9.0
                        ├── libprotobuf.so
                        └── libprotoc.so

The preceding shows the integration directory structure of the NNIE. For details about other directory structures of the converter, see Converting Models for Inference.

The runtime Directory Structure of the Model Inference Tool

mindspore-lite-{version}-linux-aarch32
└── providers
    └── Hi3516D        # Embedded board model number
        └── libmslite_nnie.so  # Dynamic library of the integrated NNIE
        └── libmslite_proposal.so  # Sample dynamic library of the integrated proposal

The preceding shows the integration directory structure of the NNIE. For details about other directory structures of the inference tool runtime, see Directory Structure.

Using Tools

Converter

Overview

MindSpore Lite provides a tool for offline model conversion. It can convert models of multiple types into board-dedicated models that support NNIE hardware acceleration inference and can run on the Hi3516 board. The converted NNIE ms model can be used only on the associated embedded board. The runtime inference framework matching the associated embedded board can be used to perform inference. For more information about the conversion tool, see Converting Models for Inference.

Environment Preparation

To use the MindSpore Lite model conversion tool, you need to prepare the environment as follows:

  1. Download NNIE-dedicated converter. Currently, only Linux is supported.

  2. Decompress the downloaded package.

    tar -zxvf mindspore-lite-{version}-linux-x64.tar.gz

    {version} indicates the version number of the release package.

  3. Add the dynamic link library required by the conversion tool to the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/lib:${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/runtime/lib:${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/providers/Hi3516D/third_party/opencv-4.2.0:${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/providers/Hi3516D/third_party/protobuf-3.9.0

    ${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH} indicates the path of the folder obtained after the decompression.

Extension Configuration

To load the extension module when converting, users need to configure the path of extended dynamic library. The parameters related to the extension include plugin_path, disable_fusion. The detailed description of the parameters is as follows:

Parameter

Attribute

Function Description

Parameter Type

Default Value

Value Range

plugin_path

Optional

Third-party library path

String

-

If there are more than one, please use ; to separate.

disable_fusion

Optional

Indicate whether to close fusion

String

off

off or on.

fusion_blacklists

Optional

Specified fusion operator names to be closed

String

-

If there are more than one, please use , to separate

We have generated the default configuration file which restores the relative path of the NNIE dynamic library for the users in the released package. The users need to decide whether the configuration file needs to be modified manually. The content is as follows:

[registry]
plugin_path=../providers/Hi3516D/libmslite_nnie_converter.so

If the user needs to turn off the specified operator fusions, the fusion configuration of the the specified operator names to be closed are as follows：

[registry]
# When parameter `disable_fusion` is configured as `off`, the user can turn off the specified operator fusions by configuring parameter `fusion_blacklists`. While parameter `disable_fusion` is configured as `on`, the parameter  `fusion_blacklists` does not work.
disable_fusion=off
fusion_blacklists=ConvActivationFusion,MatMulActivationFusion

The operator fusion names are as follows：

No

the operator fusion name

1

AddConcatActivationFusion

2

SqueezeFusion

3

TransposeFusion

4

ReshapeReshapeFusion

5

ConvBiasaddFusion

6

ConvBatchNormFusion

7

ConvScaleFusion

8

GroupNormFusion

9

TfNormFusion

10

OnnxLayerNormFusion

11

OnnxLayerNormFusion2

12

BatchMatMulFusion

13

BatchNormToScaleFusion

14

SigmoidMulFusion

15

ActivationFusion

16

ConvActivationFusion

17

ConvTupleGetItemFusion

18

ConvTupleActivationFusion

19

TfliteLstmCellFusion

20

TfLstmCellFusion

21

TfBidirectionGruFusion

22

TfGeLUFusion

23

OnnxGeLUFusion

24

TfliteRelPosMultiHeadAttentionFusion

25

GLUFusion

26

ConstFoldPass

27

AffineFusion

28

AffineActivationFusion

29

ConvConvFusion

30

ConvPadFusion

31

MatMulAddFusion

32

MatMulMulFusion

33

TransposeMatMulFusion

34

MulAddFusion

35

ScaleActivationFusion

36

ScaleScaleFusion

37

FullConnectedFusion

38

FullconnectedAddFusion

39

TensorDotFusion

40

MatMulActivationFusion

NNIE Configuration

The NNIE model can use the NNIE hardware to accelerate the model running. To do so, the users also need to prepare NNIE’s own configuration file. Users can configure the configuration file required by MindSpore Lite by referring to the description of configuration items for nnie_mapper in the HiSVP Development Guide provided by HiSilicon. nnie.cfg indicates the configuration file.

The following is an example of the nnie.cfg file:

[net_type] 0
[image_list] ./input_nchw.txt
[image_type] 0
[norm_type] 0
[mean_file] null

input_nchw.txt is the input data of the floating-point text format of the Caffe model to be converted. For details, see the description of image_list in the HiSVP Development Guide. In the configuration file, you can configure theitems other than caffemodel_file, prototxt_file, is_simulation and instructions_name.

Executing Converter

  1. Go to the converter directory.

    cd ${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/converter

  2. (Optional) Set environment variables.

    Skip this step if you have entered the converter directory by Step 1, and the default value takes effect. If you have not entered the converter directory, you need to declare the path of the .so files and benchmark binary programs on which the conversion tool depends in the environment variables, as shown in the following figure:

    export NNIE_MAPPER_PATH=${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/providers/Hi3516D/libnnie_mapper.so
export NNIE_DATA_PROCESS_PATH=${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/converter/providers/Hi3516D/libmslite_nnie_data_process.so
export BENCHMARK_PATH=${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH}/tools/benchmark

    ${PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH} indicates the path of the decompressed package.

  3. Copy the nnie.cfg file to the converter directory and set the following environment variable:

    export NNIE_CONFIG_PATH=./nnie.cfg

    Skip this step if the actual configuration file is nnie.cfg and is at the same level as the converter_lite file.

  4. Execute the Converter to generate an NNIE ms model.

    ./converter_lite --fmk=CAFFE --modelFile=${model_name}.prototxt --weightFile=${model_name}.caffemodel --configFile=./converter.cfg --outputFile=${model_name}

    ${model_name} indicates the model file name. The execution result is as follows:

    CONVERT RESULT SUCCESS:0

    For details about the parameters of the converter_lite conversion tool, see “Parameter Description” in Converting Models for Inference.

Runtime

Overview

After the converted model is obtained, you can perform inference on the associated embedded board by using the Runtime inference framework matching the board. MindSpore Lite provides a benchmark test tool, which can be used to perform quantitative analysis (performance) on the execution time consumed by forward inference of the MindSpore Lite model. In addition, you can perform comparative error analysis (accuracy) based on the output of a specified model. For details about the inference tool, see benchmark.

Environment Preparation

You can perform equivalent operations based on the actual situation. See the following example:

  1. Download NNIE-dedicated model inference tool. Currently, only Hi3516D is supported.

  2. Decompress the downloaded package.

    tar -zxvf mindspore-lite-{version}-linux-aarch32.tar.gz

    {version} indicates the version number of the release package.

  3. Create a storage directory on the Hi3516D board.

    Log in to the board and create a working directory.

    mkdir /user/mindspore          # Stores benchmark execution files and models.
mkdir /user/mindspore/lib      # Stores dependent library files.

  4. Transfer files.

    Transfer the benchmark tool, model, and .so library to the Hi3516D board. libmslite_proposal.so is an implementation sample .so file of the proposal operator provided by MindSpore Lite. If the user model contains a custom proposal operator, you need to generate the libnnie_proposal.so file by referring to the Proposal Operator Usage Description to replace the .so file for correct inference.

    scp libmindspore-lite.so libmslite_nnie.so libmslite_proposal.so root@${device_ip}:/user/mindspore/lib
scp benchmark ${model_path} root@${device_ip}:/user/mindspore

    ${model_path} indicates the path of the MS model file after conversion.

  5. Set the dynamic library path.

    NNIE model inference depends on the NNIE-related board dynamic libraries provided by HiSilicon, including libnnie.so, libmpi.so, libVoiceEngine.so, libupvqe.so and libdnvqe.so.

    You need to save these .so files on the board and pass the path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. In the example, the .so files are stored in /usr/lib. You need to configure the .so files according to the actual situation.

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/user/mindspore/lib:/usr/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

  6. (Optional) Build image input.

    If the calibration set sent to the mapper is an image when the model is exported by the Converter, the input data transferred to the benchmark must be of the int8 type. That is, the image must be converted into the int8 type before being transferred to the benchmark. Python is used to provide a conversion example.

    import sys
import cv2

def usage():
    print("usage:\n"
          "example: python generate_input_bin.py xxx.img BGR 224 224\n"
          "argv[1]: origin image path\n"
          "argv[2]: RGB_order[BGR, RGB], should be same as nnie mapper config file's [RGB_order], default is BGR\n"
          "argv[3]: input_h\n"
          "argv[4]: input_w"
          )

def main(argvs):
    if argvs[1] == "-h":
        usage()
        print("EXIT")
        exit()
    img_path = argvs[1]
    rgb_order = argvs[2]
    input_h = int(argvs[3])
    input_w = int(argvs[4])
    img = cv2.imread(img_path)
    if rgb_order == "RGB":
        img = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2RGB)
    img_hwc = cv2.resize(img, (input_w, input_h))
    outfile_name = "1_%s_%s_3_nhwc.bin" %(argvs[3], argvs[4])
    img_hwc.tofile(outfile_name)
    print("Generated " + outfile_name + " file success in current dir.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) == 1:
        usage()
        print("EXIT")
        exit()
    elif len(sys.argv) != 5:
        print("Input argument is invalid.")
        usage()
        print("EXIT")
        exit()
    else:
        main(sys.argv)

Executing the Benchmark

cd /user/mindspore
./benchmark --modelFile=${model_path}

model_path indicates the path of the MS model file after conversion.

After this command is executed, random input of the model is generated and forward inference is performed. For details about how to use the benchmark, such as time consumption analysis and inference error analysis, see benchmark.

For details about the input data format requirements of the model, see (Optional) SVP Tool Chain-related Functions and Precautions.

Integration

After the transformation model is obtained, the MindSpore Lite inference framework supporting the board can be used for integrated inference on the associated embedded board. Before reading this section, users need to have a certain understanding of the c++ interface integration development of MindSpore Lite. Users can understand the basic usage of the integration of MindSpore Lite through chapter Using C++ Interface to Perform Inference. For the integrated use of NNIE, there are the following precautions:

  1. Link libmslite_nnie.so at compile time

    The integration of MindSpore Lite with NNIE is developed by registering MindSpore Lite Custom Operators. The developed Custom Operators NNIE Custom Operators is compiled into libmslite_nnie.so. Therefore, if users want to use NNIE inference through MindSpore Lite integration, they must link the so at compile time to complete the registration of NNIE Custom Operators.

  2. (Optional) Use configuration items on demand

    MindSpore Lite provides mindspore::Model::LoadConfig and mindspore::Model::UpdateConfig interfaces to receive configuration parameters or configuration files, so that users can pass configuration items to all operators (including custom operators) through them. NNIE Custom Operators opens four configuration items, as shown below:

    • KeepOriginalOutput ：Keep the original NNIE hardware inference output results.

      The output of NNIE hardware chip inference is quantized int32 data (actual value multiplied by 4096). When the model output is given, the chip inference result will be inversely quantized to the real float value output. When this option is configured as on, the output of the model will remain quantized int32 output. By default, this option is off.

    • MaxROINum ：Maximum number of ROIs supported by a single image. The value is a positive integer. The default value is 300.

      If the user model contains the proposal operator, configure the MAX_ROI_NUM environment variable based on the implementation of the proposal operator. If the user model doesn’t contain the proposal operator, you don’t need to configure the environment.

    • TimeStep ：Number of steps for loop or LSTM network running. The value is a positive integer. The default value is 1.

      If the user model is a loop or LSTM network, you need to configure the TIME_STEP environment variable based on the actual network running status. If the user model is not a loop or LSTM network, you don’t need to configure the TIME_STEP environment varialbe. For details about other requirements, see Multi-image Batch Running and Multi-step Running.

    • CoreIds：Core ID for NNIE running. Model segments can be configured independently and are separated by commas (,), for example, export CORE_IDS=1,1. The default value is 0.

      If there are multiple NNIE hardware devices on the board, you can specify the NNIE device on which the model runs by using the CORE_IDS environment variable. If the model is segmented (you can open the model by using the Netron to observe the segmentation status), you can configure the device on which each segment runs in sequence. The segments that are not configured run on the last configured NNIE device.

    The configuration process of NNIE is as follows:

    • Use the mindspore::Model::LoadConfig interface for configuration

      After loading the model, before the user calls the mindspore::Model::Build interface to compile the model, the path of the configuration file is passed into the implementation configuration by calling the mindspore::Model::LoadConfig interface. An example of the content of a NNIE configuration file is as follows:

      [nnie]
TimeStep=1
MaxROINum=0
CoreIds=0
KeepOriginalOutput=off

    • Use the mindspore::Model::UpdateConfig interface for configuration

      After loading the model, the user can also configure the above configuration items by calling the mindspore::Model::UpdateConfig interface before calling the mindspore::Model::Build interface for model compilation, as shown in the following example :

      // ms_model is an instance of the `mindspore::Model` class
ms_model.UpdateConfig("nnie", std::make_pair("TimeStep", "1"));
ms_model.UpdateConfig("nnie", std::make_pair("MaxROINum", "0"));
ms_model.UpdateConfig("nnie", std::make_pair("CoreIds", "0"));
ms_model.UpdateConfig("nnie", std::make_pair("KeepOriginalOutput", "off"));