5.1 Introduction to CNNs and Image Processing
At their core, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are specialized deep learning architectures designed to process structured grid data, with a particular focus on images. Unlike traditional neural networks, such as fully connected networks, which flatten input images into one-dimensional vectors, CNNs maintain the spatial integrity of the data throughout the processing pipeline. This fundamental difference allows CNNs to capture and utilize crucial spatial relationships between pixels, making them exceptionally well-suited for image processing tasks.
To understand the advantages of CNNs, let's first consider the limitations of traditional neural networks when applied to image data. When an image is ...