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@paulguerrie paulguerrie released this 05 Dec 16:07
· 4161 commits to main since this release
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0.9.5

Features, Fixes, and Improvements

Full Changelog: v0.9.3...v0.9.5.rc2

New inference.Stream interface

We are excited to introduce the upgraded version of our stream interface: InferencePipeline. Additionally, the WebcamStream class has evolved into a more versatile VideoSource.

This new abstraction is not only faster and more stable but also provides more granular control over the entire inference process.

Can I still use inference.Stream?

Absolutely! The old components remain unchanged for now. However, be aware that this abstraction is slated for deprecation over time. We encourage you to explore the new InferencePipeline interface and take advantage of its benefits.

What has been improved?

  • Performance: Experience A significant boost in throughput, up to 5 times, and improved latency for online inference on video streams using the YOLOv8n model.
  • Stability: InferencePipeline can now automatically re-establish a connection for online video streams if a connection is lost.
  • Prediction Sinks: Introducing prediction sinks, simplifying the utilization of predictions without the need for custom code.
  • Control Over Inference Process: InferencePipeline intelligently adapts to the type of video source, whether a file or stream. Video files are processed frame by frame, while online streams prioritize real-time processing, dropping non-real-time frames.
  • Observability: Gain insights into the processing state through events exposed by InferencePipeline. Reference implementations letting you to monitor processing are also available.

How to Migrate to the new Inference Stream interface?

You need to change a few lines of code to migrate to using the new Inference stream interface.

Below is an example that shows the old interface:

import inference

def on_prediction(predictions, image):
    pass

inference.Stream(
    source="webcam", # or "rstp://0.0.0.0:8000/password" for RTSP stream, or "file.mp4" for video
    model="rock-paper-scissors-sxsw/11", # from Universe
    output_channel_order="BGR",
    use_main_thread=True, # for opencv display
    on_prediction=on_prediction, 
)

Here is the same code expressed in the new interface:

from inference.core.interfaces.stream.inference_pipeline import InferencePipeline
from inference.core.interfaces.stream.sinks import render_boxes

pipeline = InferencePipeline.init(
    model_id="rock-paper-scissors-sxsw/11",
    video_reference=0,
    on_prediction=render_boxes,
)
pipeline.start()
pipeline.join()

Note the slight change in the on_prediction handler, from:

def on_prediction(predictions: dict, image: np.ndarray) -> None:
    pass

Into:

from inference.core.interfaces.camera.entities import VideoFrame

def on_prediction(predictions: dict, video_frame: VideoFrame) -> None:
    pass

Want to know more?

Here are useful references:

Parallel Robofolow Inference server

The Roboflow Inference Server supports concurrent processing. This version of the server accepts and processes requests asynchronously, running the web server, preprocessing, auto batching, inference, and post processing all in separate threads to increase server FPS throughput. Separate requests to the same model will be batched on the fly as allowed by $MAX_BATCH_SIZE, and then response handling will occurr independently. Images are passed via Python's SharedMemory module to maximize throughput.

These changes result in as much as a 76% speedup on one measured workload.

Note

Currently, only Object Detection, Instance Segmentation, and Classification models are supported by this module. Core models are not enabled.

Important

We require a Roboflow Enterprise License to use this in production. See inference/enterpise/LICENSE.txt for details.

How To Use Concurrent Processing

You can build the server using ./inference/enterprise/parallel/build.sh and run it using ./inference/enterprise/parallel/run.sh

We provide a container at Docker Hub that you can pull using docker pull roboflow/roboflow-inference-server-gpu-parallel:latest. If you are pulling a pinned tag, be sure to change the $TAG variable in run.sh.

This is a drop in replacement for the old server, so you can send requests using the same API calls you were using previously.

Performance

We measure and report performance across a variety of different task types by selecting random models found on Roboflow Universe.

Methodology

The following metrics are taken on a machine with eight cores and one gpu. The FPS metrics reflect best out of three trials. The column labeled 0.9.5.parallel reflects the latest concurrent FPS metrics. Instance segmentation metrics are calculated using "mask_decode_mode": "fast" in the request body. Requests are posted concurrently with a parallelism of 1000.

Results

Workspace Model Model Type split 0.9.5.rc FPS 0.9.5.parallel FPS
senior-design-project-j9gpp nbafootage/3 object-detection train 30.2 fps 44.03 fps
niklas-bommersbach-jyjff dart-scorer/8 object-detection train 26.6 fps 47.0 fps
geonu water-08xpr/1 instance-segmentation valid 4.7 fps 6.1 fps
university-of-bradford detecting-drusen_1/2 instance-segmentation train 6.2 fps 7.2 fps
fy-project-y9ecd cataract-detection-viwsu/2 classification train 48.5 fps 65.4 fps
hesunyu playing-cards-ir0wr/1 classification train 44.6 fps 57.7 fps