AutoLoss-GMS: Searching Generalized Margin-based Softmax Loss Function for Person Re-identification

Person re-identification is a hot topic in computer vision, and the loss function plays a vital role in improving the discrimination of the learned features. However, most existing models utilize the hand-crafted loss functions, which are usually sub-optimal and challenging to be designed. In this paper, we propose a novel method, AutoLoss-GMS, to search the better loss function in the space of generalized margin-based softmax loss function for person re-identification automatically. Specifically, the generalized margin-based softmax loss function is first decomposed into two computational graphs and a constant. Then a general searching framework built upon the evolutionary algorithm is proposed to search for the loss function efficiently. The computational graph is constructed with a forward method, which can construct much richer loss function forms than the backward method used in existing works. In addition to the basic in-graph mutation operations, the cross-graph mutation operation is designed to further improve the offspring's diversity. The loss-rejection protocol, equivalence-check strategy and the predictor-based promising-loss chooser are developed to improve the search efficiency. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the searched loss functions can achieve state-of-the-art performance and be transferable across different models and datasets in person re-identification.