Compile Tool

Compile tool is a C++ application that enables you to compile a network for inference on a specific device and export it to a binary file. With the Compile Tool, you can compile a network using supported Inference Engine plugins on a machine that doesn't have the physical device connected and then transfer a generated file to any machine with the target inference device available.

The tool compiles networks for the following target devices using corresponding Inference Engine plugins:

• Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2 (MYRIAD plugin)

NOTE: Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit no longer supports the Intel® Vision Accelerator Design with an Intel® Arria® 10 FPGA and the Intel® Programmable Acceleration Card with Intel® Arria® 10 GX FPGA. To compile a network for those devices, use the Compile Tool from the Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit 2020.3 LTS release.

The tool is delivered as an executable file that can be run on both Linux* and Windows*. The tool is located in the <INSTALLROOT>/deployment_tools/tools/compile_tool directory.

The workflow of the Compile tool is as follows:

1. Upon the start, the tool application reads command-line parameters and loads a network to the Inference Engine device.
2. The application exports a blob with the compiled network and writes it to the output file.

Run the Compile Tool

Running the application with the -h option yields the following usage message:

./compile_tool -h
Inference Engine:
        API version ............ 2.1
        Build .................. custom_vv/compile-tool_8b57af00330063c7f302aaac4d41805de21fc54a
        Description ....... API
 
compile_tool [OPTIONS]
 
 Common options:
    -h                                       Optional. Print the usage message.
    -m                           <value>     Required. Path to the XML model.
    -d                           <value>     Required. Specify a target device for which executable network will be compiled.
                                             Use "-d HETERO:<comma-separated_devices_list>" format to specify HETERO plugin.
                                             Use "-d MULTI:<comma-separated_devices_list>" format to specify MULTI plugin.
                                             The application looks for a suitable plugin for the specified device.
    -o                           <value>     Optional. Path to the output file. Default value: "<model_xml_file>.blob".
    -c                           <value>     Optional. Path to the configuration file.
    -ip                          <value>     Optional. Specifies precision for all input layers of the network.
    -op                          <value>     Optional. Specifies precision for all output layers of the network.
    -iop                        "<value>"    Optional. Specifies precision for input and output layers by name.
                                             Example: -iop "input:FP16, output:FP16".
                                             Notice that quotes are required.
                                             Overwrites precision from ip and op options for specified layers.
    -il                          <value>     Optional. Specifies layout for all input layers of the network.
    -ol                          <value>     Optional. Specifies layout for all input layers of the network.
    -iol                        "<value>"    Optional. Specifies layout for input and output layers by name.
                                             Example: -iol "input:NCHW, output:NHWC".
                                             Notice that quotes are required.
                                             Overwrites layout from il and ol options for specified layers.
 
 MYRIAD-specific options:
      -VPU_NUMBER_OF_SHAVES      <value>     Optional. Specifies number of shaves.
                                             Should be set with "VPU_NUMBER_OF_CMX_SLICES".
                                             Overwrites value from config.
 
      -VPU_NUMBER_OF_CMX_SLICES  <value>     Optional. Specifies number of CMX slices.
                                             Should be set with "VPU_NUMBER_OF_SHAVES".
                                             Overwrites value from config.
      -VPU_TILING_CMX_LIMIT_KB   <value>     Optional. Specifies CMX limit for data tiling.
                                             Value should be equal or greater than -1.
                                             Overwrites value from config.

Running the application with the empty list of options yields an error message.

For example, to compile a blob for inference on an Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2 from a trained network, run the command below:

./compile_tool -m <path_to_model>/model_name.xml -d MYRIAD

Import a Compiled Blob File to Your Application

To import a blob with the network from a generated file into your application, use the InferenceEngine::Core::ImportNetwork method:

InferenceEngine::Core ie;
std::ifstream file{"model_name.blob"};
InferenceEngine::ExecutableNetwork = ie.ImportNetwork(file, "MYRIAD", {});