Rapid advancements in image and video processing technologies are poised to create remarkable impacts on a wide range of industries. A significant challenge in these processing technologies resides in identifying the features fed for image classification algorithms. Though all classification algorithms could identify, extract and classify the features of a given image, their accuracy is directly proportional to the number of sample points taken from the image using a sampling technique. As the accuracy improves with a substantial number of sample points, the time consumed to process them looms large. These challenges beseech enormous computing power. Quantum computers avowed exceptional computing power is expected to bridge the growing demands. To address these challenges effectively, we have chosen a specific problem, Facial Expression Analysis, to explore in-depth and arrive at a purposeful approach to deliver the desired outcome. The purpose of this paper is two-pronged. Perform a comparative study of accuracy and performance of classical and quantum image processing algorithms in classical and quantum computers, respectively. Secondly, devise a novel hybrid model using a quantum distance-based classifier augmented with a classical linear support vector machine to overcome the limitations observed. Sample image features derived from the quantum classifier were used to train the linear classifier. The results were observed to be better relative to results from the classical distance-based classifier. Holistically, the novel hybrid model is observed as a promising solution for all image classification problems. Our future work will focus on sophisticated usage of a linear classification algorithm in quantum computing.
Rapid advancements in image and video processing technologies are poised to create remarkable impacts on a wide range of industries. A significant challenge in these processing technologies resides in identifying the features fed for image classification algorithms. Though all classification algorithms could identify, extract and classify the features of a given image, their accuracy is directly proportional to the number of sample points taken from the image using a sampling technique. As the accuracy improves with a substantial number of sample points, the time consumed to process them looms large. These challenges beseech enormous computing power. Quantum computers avowed exceptional computing power is expected to bridge the growing demands. To address these challenges effectively, we have chosen a specific problem, Facial Expression Analysis, to explore in-depth and arrive at a purposeful approach to deliver the desired outcome. The purpose of this paper is two-pronged. Perform a comparative study of accuracy and performance of classical and quantum image processing algorithms in classical and quantum computers, respectively. Secondly, devise a novel hybrid model using a quantum distance-based classifier augmented with a classical linear support vector machine to overcome the limitations observed. Sample image features derived from the quantum classifier were used to train the linear classifier. The results were observed to be better relative to results from the classical distance-based classifier. Holistically, the novel hybrid model is observed as a promising solution for all image classification problems. Our future work will focus on sophisticated usage of a linear classification algorithm in quantum computing.
Abstract Facial expressions bring human interactions to life with nonverbal cues that convey hues of emotions, feelings, and cultural intent. Analyzing these expressions is essential in the age of digital transformation. Traditional approaches to real-time facial expression analysis have limitations in capturing the complexity of these expressions and consume enormous computational power. The promising computing capacity of quantum computers is poised to solve current problems and set new standards by meeting growing demands. We have created a hybrid model that leverages the capabilities of the classical and quantum domains. The proposed model uses a quantum distance-based classifier along with classical artificial neural networks to perform real-time facial expression analysis and classification. Based on a thorough review of the literature, this novel and comprehensive work is, to the best of our knowledge, one of the few that addresses eight different emotions in the quantum domain. The implementation of a novel quantum error correction method has improved the accuracy of this hybrid model. Our model was trained on the CK+ facial expression database. To ensure fairness of the study, we tested our model on the largest facial expression database, AffectNet-8, and compared the performance with state-of-the-art models. Our model accuracy is 10.83% higher than that of the state-of-the-art models. From a holistic perspective, our proposed novel hybrid model appears to have universal value for all kinds of real-time image analysis and classification problems. As we move forward, we planned to focus on quantum neural networks for image processing and facial expression analysis.
This research explores quantum machine learning for image classification, comparing classical and quantum models. A classical convolutional neural network (CNN), based on the LeNet architecture, achieved 99.12% accuracy on MNIST, outperforming a quantum CNN, which attained 93.30%. Quantum encoders applied to Fashion-MNIST reached 85.60%, while quantum support vector machine (SVM), implemented for binary classification, obtained 71.34%. The study integrates hybrid quantum-classical models, leveraging quantum circuits for feature extraction. A quantum autoencoder-based classifier was introduced, demonstrating efficient data compression and classification without additional qubits. Feature encoding using RX gates mapped classical data into quantum states, and the impact of parameterized quantum circuit structures on classification accuracy was analyzed. Results indicate that specific ansatz structures yield superior accuracy, highlighting the significance of quantum circuit design. While classical models currently outperform quantum counterparts, quantum approaches reduce trainable parameters and computational complexity. Limitations in current quantum hardware, including noise and scalability, restrict performance. However, advancements in error mitigation, quantum gate efficiency, and scalable quantum architecture could bridge the gap with classical methods. These quantum techniques hold potential in aerospace applications, such as satellite image classification, anomaly detection in remote sensing, and real-time processing of high-dimensional image data. This study underscores the growing role of quantum circuits in machine learning, particularly in feature extraction and classification, suggesting that future quantum hardware could unlock new capabilities in end-to-end learning beyond hybrid approaches.
Recently, there has been growing attention on combining quantum machine learning (QML) with classical deep learning approaches as computational techniques are key to improving the performance of image classification tasks.This study presents a hybrid approach that uses ResNet-50 (Residual Network) for feature extraction and Quantum Support Vector Machines (QSVM) for classification in the context of potato disease detection. Classical machine learning as well as deep learning models often struggle with high-dimensional and complex datasets necessitating advanced techniques like quantum computing to improve classification efficiency.In our research, we use ResNet-50 to extract deep feature representations from RGB images of potato diseases. These features are then subjected to dimensionality reduction using PCA (Principal Component Analysis). The resulting features are processed through QSVM models which apply various quantum feature maps—such as ZZ, Z and Pauli-X to transform classical data into quantum states. To assess the model’s performance we compared it with classical ML such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) using 5-fold stratified cross-validation for a comprehensive evaluation. The experimental results demonstrate that the Z-feature map-based QSVM outperforms classical models achieving an accuracy of 99.23% surpassing both SVM and RF models.This research highlights the advantages of integrating quantum computing into image classification and also provides disease detection solution into the potential of hybrid quantum-classical model.
In order to leverage quantum computers for machine learning tasks such as image classification, careful consideration is required: NISQ-era quantum computers have limitations, which include noise, scalability, read-in and read-out times, and gate operation times. Therefore, strategies should be devised to mitigate the impact that complex datasets can have on the overall efficiency of a quantum machine learning pipeline. This may otherwise lead to excessive resource demands or increased noise. We apply a classical feature extraction method using a ResNet10-inspired convolutional autoencoder to both reduce the dimensionality of the dataset and extract abstract and meaningful features before feeding them into a quantum machine learning block. The quantum block of choice is a quantum-enhanced support vector machine (QSVM), as support vector machines typically do not require large sample sizes to identify patterns in data and have short-depth quantum circuits, which limits the impact of noise. The autoencoder is trained to extract meaningful features through image reconstruction, aiming to minimize the mean squared error across a training set. Three image datasets are used to illustrate the pipeline: HTRU-1, MNIST, and CIFAR-10. We also include a quantum-enhanced one-class support vector machine (QOCSVM) for the highly unbalanced HTRU-1 set, as well as classical machine learning results to serve as a benchmark. Finally, the HTRU-2 dataset is also included to serve as a benchmark for a dataset with well-correlated features. The autoencoder achieved near-perfect reconstruction and high classification accuracy for MNIST, while CIFAR-10 showed poorer performance due to image complexity, and HTRU-1 struggled because of dataset imbalance. This highlights the need for a balance between dimensionality reduction through classical feature extraction and prediction performance using quantum methods.
Hybrid quantum methods have received limited study for resource-constrained facial biometrics. We present a hybrid quantum-classical facial recognition pipeline designed to run on standard computing hardware. Images undergo gamma correction, contrast enhancement, and principal component analysis before their features are encoded into an eight-qubit variational quantum classifier. Classical image matching then performs recognition. In experiments with 50,000 images, comprising 25,000 faces from CelebA and 25,000 non-face images from CIFAR-10, the method outperformed the reported CPU-trained FaceNet baseline in accuracy and training efficiency. The pipeline was also evaluated on GPU and quantum hardware. In an attendance monitoring deployment at Mahindra University in collaboration with Lloyds Technology Centre, CPU inference took 0.2 to 0.5 seconds per person, and the system remained robust to the use of spectacles. These findings support the feasibility of deploying hybrid quantum methods for facial recognition on existing CPU hardware.
Image classification has become a fundamental task in computer vision with applications in areas such as medical imaging, agriculture, environmental monitoring, and automated surveillance. Traditional machine learning techniques have achieved reasonable performance in classification tasks; however, they often struggle when dealing with high-dimensional and complex image datasets. Deep learning models, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have significantly improved image classification performance by automatically learning hierarchical feature representations. Despite these advancements, classical deep learning models may still face challenges related to computational complexity and large-scale data processing.In recent years, quantum machine learning has emerged as a promising paradigm that combines principles of quantum computing with classical machine learning techniques to enhance computational efficiency and model performance. This study proposes a hybrid quantum–classical framework for image classification that integrates a deep residual network (ResNet-50) with a Quantum Support Vector Machine (QSVM). The ResNet-50 model is employed as a feature extraction mechanism to capture high-level visual representations from image data. The extracted features are then reduced in dimensionality using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to simplify the feature space and improve computational efficiency.The reduced feature vectors are subsequently classified using a QSVM model that utilizes quantum feature maps to encode classical data into quantum states. Various quantum feature maps are explored to evaluate their impact on classification performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid quantum–classical approach achieves higher classification accuracy compared to conventional machine learning models such as Support Vector Machines and Random Forest classifiers. The proposed framework highlights the potential of combining classical deep learning architectures with quantum machine learning algorithms to address complex image classification challenges. This hybrid approach provides an efficient and scalable solution for advanced image analysis tasks and demonstrates the growing potential of quantum computing in artificial intelligence applications.