An Attention-Based Parallel Algorithm for Hyperspectral Skin Cancer Classification on Low-Power GPUs

Abstract

Recently, several medical applications have relied on hyperspectral imaging. This technology enables both automated diagnosis and surgeon guidance. The employed algorithms adopt machine and deep learning methods to classify the images. In particular, Vision Transformers are a recent deep architecture that have been used to classify hyperspectral images of skin cancers achieving interesting results. However, deep architectures are computationally intensive and parallel architectures are mandatory to ensure a fast classification (depending on the application type even in real time). In this paper, we propose a parallel Vision Transformer architecture exploiting a low power GPU targeting the development of a portable diagnostic device. The classification time and power consumption of the low power board are compared with the performance of a desktop GPU. The results clearly highlight the suitability of the low power GPU to develop a portable diagnostic system based on hyperspectral imaging.