Comparative Analysis of CNN Algorithms for Mushroom Classification with Proposed Lightweight CNN Model

The classification of mushroom species presents significant ecologic and health-related challenges; advancement in classification techniques is required to gain reliable identifications. This study aims to explain a methodology that was devised and evaluated in the development of a novel, lightweight Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) designed specifically for the task of mushroom classification. The paper provides a custom CNN model that is computationally cost-effective and capable of high-precision classification, fit for real-time usage. Hence, the proposed model was evaluated on this dataset of curated mushroom images with traditional classifiers and state-of-the-art CNN architectures, such as EfficientNet-B7, ResNet50, InceptionV3, and MobileNetV2. The custom model is depth-wise separations engineered in such a way that while they reduce the computational load, they don't compromise the effectiveness of the model. The custom model achieved a test score of 0.68, which is moderate compared to more established models such as EfficientNet-B7 or ResNet50. This approach helps the model function effectively even on platforms having low computational resources. A comprehensive evaluation reveals that a custom CNN has reasonable accuracy in the identification of different mushroom species vis-à-vis existing models, but also significantly lightens the classification process.