Automated spectroscopic modelling with optimised convolutional neural networks

Abstract Convolutional neural networks (CNN) for spectroscopic modelling are currently tuned manually, and the effects of their hyperparameters are not analysed. These can result in sub-optimal models. Here, we propose an approach to tune one-dimensional CNN (1D-CNNs) automatically. It consists of a parametric representation of 1D-CNNs and an optimisation of hyperparameters to maximise a model’s performance. We used a large European soil spectroscopic database to demonstrate our approach for estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) contents. To assess the optimisation, we compared it to random search, and to understand the effects of the hyperparameters, we calculated their importance using functional Analysis of Variance. Compared to random search, the optimisation produced better final results and showed faster convergence. The optimal model produced the most accurate estimates of SOC with $$\hbox {RMSE} = 9.67 \pm 0.51$$ RMSE = 9.67 ± 0.51 (s.d.) and $${R}^2 = 0.89 \pm 0.013$$ R 2 = 0.89 ± 0.013 (s.d.). The hyperparameters associated with model training and architecture critically affected the model’s performance, while those related to the spectral preprocessing had little effect. The optimisation searched through a complex hyperparameter space and returned an optimal 1D-CNN. Our approach simplified the development of 1D-CNNs for spectroscopic modelling by automatically selecting hyperparameters and preprocessing methods. Hyperparameter importance analysis shed light on the tuning process and increased the model’s reliability.