Open Access

ARTICLE

Federated Learning and Optimization for Few-Shot Image Classification

Yi Zuo, Zhenping Chen^*, Jing Feng, Yunhao Fan

School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China

* Corresponding Author: Zhenping Chen. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2025, 82(3), 4649-4667. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2025.059472

Received 09 October 2024; Accepted 13 December 2024; Issue published 06 March 2025

Abstract

Image classification is crucial for various applications, including digital construction, smart manufacturing, and medical imaging. Focusing on the inadequate model generalization and data privacy concerns in few-shot image classification, in this paper, we propose a federated learning approach that incorporates privacy-preserving techniques. First, we utilize contrastive learning to train on local few-shot image data and apply various data augmentation methods to expand the sample size, thereby enhancing the model’s generalization capabilities in few-shot contexts. Second, we introduce local differential privacy techniques and weight pruning methods to safeguard model parameters, perturbing the transmitted parameters to ensure user data privacy. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method. The results indicate that our approach significantly enhances model generalization and test accuracy compared to several popular federated learning algorithms while maintaining data privacy, highlighting its effectiveness and practicality in addressing the challenges of model generalization and data privacy in few-shot image scenarios.

---

Keywords

---