Stochastic Dykstra Algorithms for Distance Metric Learning with Covariance Descriptors

Abstract

In recent years, covariance descriptors have received considerable attention as a strong representation of a set of points. In this research, we propose a new metric learning algorithm for covariance descriptors based on the Dykstra algorithm, in which the current solution is projected onto a half-space at each iteration, and which runs in O(n³) time. We empirically demonstrate that randomizing the order of half-spaces in the proposed Dykstra-based algorithm significantly accelerates convergence to the optimal solution. Furthermore, we show that the proposed approach yields promising experimental results for pattern recognition tasks.