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Thesis

Structure, outline, research questions, and comparison criteria for the thesis.

Overview

This thesis compares web frameworks for running ML models in the browser — evaluating TensorFlow.js, ONNX Runtime Web, Transformers.js, and MediaPipe across performance metrics and developer experience.


Thesis Structure

Part I: Introduction & Background

  • Problem statement: Why browser-based ML matters
  • Research questions
  • Methodology (comparison criteria)
  • Browser ML landscape overview

Part II: Technical Analysis

  • Runtime architecture deep-dives
  • Backend capabilities (CPU, WASM, WebGL, WebGPU, WebNN)
  • Model distribution strategies
  • Performance characteristics

Part III: Evaluation & Results

  • Benchmark methodology
  • Quantitative results (load time, inference, memory)
  • Qualitative assessment (ease of integration, documentation, community)
  • Cross-browser analysis

Part IV: Conclusion

  • Key findings
  • Recommendations
  • Future work

Comparison Criteria

Metric Description Measurement
Load time Model download + initialization performance.now() delta
Cold inference First prediction (no warmup) Mean of 5 runs after init
Warm mean Subsequent predictions Mean of 10 warm runs
Memory delta Heap before vs after inference Chromium performance.memory
Backend detection Which backends available Runtime capability queries
Prediction sanity Output validity check Top-5 class probability sum

Source

Original thesis proposal with DE/EN and Rich/Plain views