Navigating the Landscape of Big Data Methods: A Survey through the Lens of Deep Learning

Research Article
Open access

Navigating the Landscape of Big Data Methods: A Survey through the Lens of Deep Learning

Zexuan Dong 1*
  • 1 Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, Xitucheng Road, 100876, Beijing, China    
  • *corresponding author dongzexuan2023@bupt.edu.cn
Published on 19 December 2024 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2755-2721/2024.18319
ACE Vol.113
ISSN (Print): 2755-273X
ISSN (Online): 2755-2721
ISBN (Print): 978-1-83558-775-1
ISBN (Online): 978-1-83558-776-8

Abstract

The era of Big Data has ushered in an unprecedented deluge of information, characterized by its massive volume, diverse variety, high velocity, and inherent veracity challenges. Traditional data processing and analysis techniques often falter in the face of such complexities. Deep Learning, with its capacity to discern intricate patterns and representations from raw data, has emerged as a promising tool to navigate this landscape. This survey article provides a comprehensive overview of the methods employed in the realm of Big Data, systematically categorized based on the stage of data processing they address (preprocessing, storage, or processing & management), the type of learning involved (supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement), the specific data characteristics they tackle (volume, variety, velocity, or veracity), and their application areas. We delve into the strengths and limitations of each method, highlighting their suitability for different Big Data scenarios. Furthermore, we explore the challenges and future trends in applying Deep Learning to Big Data, emphasizing the need for innovative solutions to harness its full potential. By offering a structured classification and insightful analysis, this survey serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and leverage the synergy between Deep Learning and Big Data.

Keywords:

Big Data, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Data Preprocessing, Data Storag

Dong,Z. (2024). Navigating the Landscape of Big Data Methods: A Survey through the Lens of Deep Learning. Applied and Computational Engineering,113,101-107.
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1. Introduction

In recent years, the world has witnessed an unbelievable development in data generation, fueled by advancements in technology and the widespread adoption of digital devices. This incredible data growth has brought both opportunities and challenges. The influence is vast, spanning across various sectors including business, healthcare, and education [1-2]. With such a huge amount of information, the ability to process, analyze, and derive meaningful insights has become significant. Deep learning, a part of machine learning, has played an important role as a powerful tool in the big data era [3]. Deep learning differs significantly from traditional learning methods in feature extraction, model architecture, and data processing. Traditional methods rely on manually designed features and relatively simple models, suitable for small datasets [4]. Additionally, deep learning possesses powerful generalization capabilities, adapting well to new datasets and tasks [3]. Its advantages lie in strong learning ability, automatic feature extraction, and excellent complex data processing capabilities, leading to remarkable achievements in areas such as image recognition and speech recognition [3]. Although traditional methods are stable and straightforward with small datasets, they may not be as effective as deep learning in tackling complex tasks.

Despite the fact that big data has vast potential, traditional data analysis techniques have proven to be limited in their ability to uncover deep, abstract knowledge. These methods often focus on surface-level patterns and correlations, failing to capture the underlying structures and intricacies within the data [5-6]. Deep learning, with its ability to model complex patterns and relationships, offers a promising way to solve this challenge. By using deep neural networks, it can extract high-level abstractions and representations from raw data, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying phenomena. This potential has made deep learning a cornerstone in the field of data science, particularly in the context of big data [3][7-8].

This survey aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the intersection of big data and deep learning, highlighting their synergies and exploring their applications in various domains [9-10]. The structure of this survey is organized to cover key concepts, methodologies, and case studies, offering readers a holistic understanding of the topic.

2. Big Data Fundamentals

2.1. Defining Big Data

Big Data is always defined by the 3 Vs (Volume, Velocity and Variety):

Volume: Big Data is characterized by its enormous scale, which frequently surpasses the capacity of traditional data storage and processing systems. This massive volume of information makes the use of specialized technologies and methodologies significant to manage and analyze the data effectively. These specialized technologies are designed to handle the unique challenges posed by Big Data, such as its high velocity and variety. They enable organizations to process and analyze large data sets quickly and efficiently, extracting valuable insights that can inform decision-making and drive business growth.

Velocity: The generation and processing of Big Data have developed at an unbelievable speed, demanding real-time or near-real-time capabilities. To meet this high velocity, it is urgent to develop systems capable of managing and analyzing data instantaneously as it is generated, facilitating prompt decision-making and insightful analysis.

Variety: Big Data includes many different types and formats of data, such as structured, semi-structured, and unstructured information. This requires systems that are both flexible and adaptable, able to handle and combine data from a wide range of sources and formats.

Beyond the 3Vs, Big Data also comprises other crucial features like veracity, which refers to the reliability and exactness of the data, validity, meaning the relevance and usefulness of the data, and value, which indicates the potential advantages gained from examining the data. These extra aspects make managing and analyzing Big Data more complex, but they also offer chances to discover valuable knowledge. This presents both challenges and research issues in the field of Big Data.

2.2. Challenges and Research Problems

2.2.1. Availability, Scalability and Integrity. Ensuring data accessibility, scalability, and integrity is a significant challenge in Big Data, as data volumes grow rapidly, and demands for accurate, real-time analysis increase. Data accessibility involves making information readily available to authorized users and systems, even across distributed networks. Scalability addresses the need to expand storage and processing power dynamically as data volumes increase, allowing systems to handle massive datasets efficiently. Integrity, on the other hand, ensures data remains accurate, consistent, and trustworthy throughout its lifecycle, despite frequent updates and complex processing workflows. Research in Big Data management focuses on developing robust architectures and algorithms to meet these requirements. Techniques such as distributed computing frameworks, fault-tolerant data storage, and real-time consistency checks are commonly explored. By advancing these methods, researchers aim to create Big Data solutions that not only scale but also maintain high-quality data standards, essential for fields like finance, healthcare, and scientific research where data precision is critical.

2.2.2. Ensuring Access and Reliability. Big Data systems need to guarantee that data can be accessed by authorized users and applications, while keeping a high degree of dependability and the ability to withstand faults. This necessitates the creation of strong storage, retrieval, and processing systems that can function smoothly even in the face of hardware breakdowns or network interruptions.

2.2.3. Accuracy and Trustworthiness. Big Data systems must ensure that data remains accessible to authorized users and applications with high reliability, even under challenging conditions. Achieving this requires robust storage, retrieval, and processing frameworks designed to operate smoothly despite hardware failures, network issues, or other disruptions. Fault tolerance plays a critical role, enabling systems to continue functioning by rerouting tasks, employing redundancy, and using data replication to prevent data loss. High-availability systems are also essential, using strategies like load balancing and distributed databases to handle data requests efficiently and avoid downtime. Advanced recovery mechanisms, including failover systems, allow Big Data platforms to restore operations quickly after a failure. Additionally, access control and data encryption safeguard against unauthorized access, ensuring data security. Together, these elements support reliable, scalable Big Data architectures that can withstand faults and provide uninterrupted service, making them suitable for mission-critical applications in finance, healthcare, and e-commerce.

2.2.4. Diverse Data Sources and Formats. Handling and integrating data from diverse sources and formats is a complex task in Big Data, as data can originate from databases, streaming sensors, social media, and more, each with its unique structure and characteristics. Research in this field focuses on advanced data integration techniques, such as schema matching, which aligns and maps different database schemas to enable consistent data merging. Data fusion is another critical method, combining multiple datasets into a unified, accurate representation by resolving conflicts, redundancies, and inconsistencies among sources. Techniques like entity resolution and metadata management also play essential roles, helping identify and align similar data points across sources. These methods ensure that the integrated data is not only comprehensive but also reliable, making it suitable for analysis. Effective data integration improves decision-making across domains such as healthcare, finance, and business intelligence by providing a holistic, cohesive view of information drawn from numerous and varied origins.

3. The Stages of Big Data Processing

3.1. Preprocessing

Preprocessing is a crucial first stage in big data processing, involving a series of steps that transform raw data into a format suitable for analysis. This stage includes data cleaning, where errors, inconsistencies, and missing values are corrected or removed to enhance data quality. It also involves data integration, where data from multiple sources is combined, and data transformation, where data is standardized or normalized for consistency. Feature extraction and dimensionality reduction may be applied to focus on the most relevant information. Overall, preprocessing improves data quality, reduces complexity, and ensures that the data is ready for efficient and accurate analysis.

3.1.1. Data Cleansing and Transformation. This process entails recognizing and rectifying mistakes, eliminating redundancies, and converting data into a format that is more conducive to analysis. As an example, textual information may require transformation into numerical forms for use by machine learning algorithms.

Missing data can be addressed using methods like imputation, which may involve substituting the missing values with the mean, median, or mode, or more advanced techniques such as k-Nearest Neighbors. Data inconsistencies need to be standardized or normalized to achieve consistency.

This could entail converting unstructured data, such as text and images, into structured formats like tables and vectors, making them easily processable by analytical tools.

3.1.2. Data Integration and Reduction. Integrating data from different sources is crucial for conducting a thorough analysis. This process may include data mapping, schema integration, and conflict resolution. Techniques for reduction, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), are helpful in reducing data dimensionality while retaining crucial information.

Data integration strategies, like data warehousing or data lakes, facilitate the aggregation of diverse datasets.

These techniques are designed to streamline datasets by decreasing the number of variables (or features), while ensuring that the information remains intact. Methods for feature selection are employed to pinpoint the most pertinent features, thereby improving model performance and lowering computational expenses.

3.1.3. Stream Processing Challenges. Efficient processing mechanisms are essential for managing real-time data streams, which require rapid handling, analysis, and response to dynamic data. Key challenges include data mobility, which refers to the efficient movement of data across distributed systems to ensure that information is available when and where it’s needed. Partitioning plays a crucial role, as it divides data into manageable segments, enabling parallel processing and faster analysis across multiple nodes, thereby improving throughput and scalability. Additionally, real-time data often arrives with imperfections, such as late-arriving records or out-of-order events, which can disrupt analysis if not properly managed. Mechanisms like event-time processing, watermarking, and windowing functions help address these issues, ensuring data consistency and reliability in real-time analytics. Together, these strategies allow systems to handle high-velocity data streams efficiently, providing timely insights and supporting applications in fields like IoT, financial trading, and predictive analytics, where real-time responsiveness is essential.

3.2. Storage

Efficient storage is crucial for managing large-scale datasets, ensuring data availability, and supporting fast retrieval.

3.2.1. Replication Strategies. Data replication entails duplicating data across multiple storage sites to improve fault tolerance and availability. The strategies encompass master-slave replication, peer-to-peer replication, and erasure coding.

Methods like distributed file systems, for example Hadoop HDFS, and cloud storage services, such as AWS S3, guarantee that data remains accessible even when hardware failures occur.

Ensuring data consistency across all replicas is of utmost importance. This can be accomplished by adopting robust consistency models, such as linearizability, or eventual consistency, based on the specific needs of the application.

3.2.2. Indexing Mechanisms. Indexing speeds up data retrieval by establishing a structured reference to the data. The techniques encompass B-trees, hash indexes, and inverted indexes, each of which is tailored to different types of queries.

Efficient algorithms, such as those employed in search engines, facilitate swift data retrieval. Methods like caching, sharding, and query optimization are of great importance in this process.

Indexing big data encounters challenges like high dimensionality, data sparsity, and the requirement for real-time updates. Solutions to these issues include approximate nearest neighbor search and locality-sensitive hashing.

3.3. Management and Processing

Effective management and processing of big data involve leveraging advanced analytical techniques to extract insights and knowledge.

3.3.1. Classification and Clustering. These constitute essential tasks in the field of machine learning. Classification involves assigning labels to data points, such as detecting email spam, whereas clustering entails grouping similar data points together, for instance, customer segmentation.

This entails training models using labeled data to forecast categories or results. The algorithms encompass decision trees, neural networks, and support vector machines.

In the absence of labeled data, unsupervised learning discovers concealed patterns or structures. The techniques used include k-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), and association rule mining.

3.3.2. Data Mining and Analysis Techniques. These encompass a wide array of techniques aimed at extracting valuable information from extensive datasets. This involves statistical analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive modeling.

Advanced analytics, like sentiment analysis, anomaly detection, and trend forecasting, provide actionable insights.

With the increasing volumes of data, scalable algorithms, such as MapReduce and Apache Spark, become crucial. These algorithms have the capability to process data in parallel across distributed systems, thereby significantly decreasing computation time.

4. Machine Learning and Deep Learning

4.1. Machine Learning Overview

Supervised learning entails training models with categorized data to forecast outcomes, whereas unsupervised learning uncovers concealed patterns or frameworks without such categorization.

Labeled data, crucial for supervised learning, offers a distinct target for the model's predictions. Conversely, unsupervised learning operates with unlabeled data, detecting patterns and associations without predetermined goals.

The selection of an algorithm hinges on factors like data volume, intricacy, and the particular task. Considerations encompass computational speed, clarity of interpretation, and the capacity to manage noise and outliers.

Various algorithms are tailored to different data types and objectives. For instance, decision trees may prove effective for categorical data, while neural networks excel in managing intricate, multidimensional data.

4.2. Deep Learning Fundamentals

Deep learning models acquire layered representations of data, autonomously deriving features at various levels of abstraction.

By learning through multiple layers, these models grasp intricate patterns and structures, empowering them to tackle complex tasks with high precision.

Contrary to conventional machine learning, deep learning models obviate the need for manual feature engineering. They independently learn and extract pertinent features from raw data.

Deep learning presents numerous benefits, including enhanced performance in complex tasks and achievements in image, speech, and text processing.

Deep learning models have exhibited superior results in tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and autonomous driving.

Deep learning has transformed these domains, attaining cutting-edge outcomes in image classification, speech recognition, and language translation.

5. The Synergy of Deep Learning and Big Data

In the age of Big Data, deep learning has become a strong method to solve the complicated problems brought by huge amounts of information. This part discusses how we can use deep learning methods to deal with the particular difficulties related to Big Data.

5.1. Handling High Volume Data

By making neural networks deeper and more complex, DNNs can efficiently handle and analyze massive datasets, discovering hidden patterns and important features.

By using distributed computing systems such as Hadoop and Spark, combined with the speed of GPUs, we can process huge amounts of data, ranging from terabytes to petabytes, which helps in quickly training models.

5.1.1. Scalable Deep Learning Architectures. Big deep learning models can be split into parts and trained at the same time on different computers, which makes training faster and more flexible.

Datasets are broken down into smaller pieces, with each computer handling a piece and then combining their results to update the model, ensuring that the model is trained efficiently.

5.1.2. Domain Adaptation and Transfer Learning. Fine-tuning pre-trained models to adapt to new domains reduces the need for extensive labeled data in the new domain.

Utilizing knowledge gained from one domain to assist learning in another, through shared feature extraction layers or transferred model parameters, accelerates model development and improves performance.

5.2. Managing High Variety Data

By effectively combining features from different sources and kinds, the model's overall judgment abilities are improved.

Using multimodal neural networks to handle text, images, audio, and other types of data at the same time helps capture relationships between different modes, making the learning process richer.

5.2.1. Resolving Conflicting Information. Introducing attention mechanisms allows models to focus on critical information while ignoring or downplaying irrelevant or conflicting data.

Combining predictions from multiple models through voting, weighted averaging, or other methods improves prediction stability and accuracy, mitigating the impact of conflicting information.

5.3. Coping with High Velocity Data

With incremental or streaming learning methods, models can keep updating as new data comes in, ensuring the model stays relevant and accurate.

By watching for changes in data distribution in real-time and adjusting model settings on the fly, we can make sure the model stays effective even in environments that change quickly.

5.3.1. Leveraging Big Data for Transfer Learning. Pre-training on massive, diverse datasets allows models to learn more generalizable and robust feature representations, providing a strong foundation for subsequent transfer learning tasks.

Training on large, multi-domain datasets enables models to generalize better to unseen domains, broadening their applicability.

6. Conclusion

In short, the combination of Big Data and Deep Learning marks a revolutionary shift in data science. It taps into the unparalleled potential of extensive datasets to fuel innovation and insight across multiple fields. This review has offered a thorough look at the basic features, challenges, and methods related to Big Data, as well as the profound effect of Deep Learning in tackling these complexities.

We have examined the steps involved in Big Data processing, starting from preprocessing and storage to management and analysis. We highlighted the essential techniques and strategies that make it possible to efficiently deal with and analyze huge datasets. The incorporation of Deep Learning into this system has shown notable benefits, such as better performance in difficult tasks, automatic feature extraction, and the capability to model complex patterns and connections within the data.

The collaboration between Big Data and Deep Learning is clear in scalable structures like deep neural networks, distributed computing, and parallel processing methods. These enable efficient training and inference on large datasets. Moreover, domain adaptation, transfer learning, and multimodal learning have become powerful ways to handle the high variety and speed of Big Data. They enhance the model's ability to generalize and adapt to new areas and types of data.

Although significant progress has been made, challenges remain in ensuring data quality, integrity, and reliability. There is also a need to develop strong models that can handle conflicting information and real-time data streams. Future research should concentrate on solving these challenges and exploring creative solutions to further leverage the potential of Big Data and Deep Learning.

In conclusion, the merging of Big Data and Deep Learning opens up vast opportunities for progress in data science and driving meaningful applications in various industries. As technology continues to advance, the partnership between these two fields will surely play a crucial


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[8]. T. Tran, M. Rahman, M. Z. A. Bhuiyan, A. Kubota, S. Kiyomoto, and K. Omote. Optimizing share size in efficient and robust secret sharing scheme for big data. IEEE Transactions on Big Data, PP(99):1–1, 2017.

[9]. M. Z. A. Bhuiyan and J. Wu. Event detection through differential pattern mining in cyber-physical systems. Jun 2017.

[10]. W. Yu, J. Li, M. Z. A. Bhuiyan, R. Zhang, and J. Huai. Ring: Realtime emerging anomaly monitoring system over text streams. IEEE Transactions on Big Data, PP(99):1–1, 2017.


Cite this article

Dong,Z. (2024). Navigating the Landscape of Big Data Methods: A Survey through the Lens of Deep Learning. Applied and Computational Engineering,113,101-107.

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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume title: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Machine Learning and Automation

ISBN:978-1-83558-775-1(Print) / 978-1-83558-776-8(Online)
Editor:Mustafa ISTANBULLU
Conference website: https://2024.confmla.org/
Conference date: 21 November 2024
Series: Applied and Computational Engineering
Volume number: Vol.113
ISSN:2755-2721(Print) / 2755-273X(Online)

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References

[1]. Aisha Siddiqa, Ibrahim Abaker Targio Hashem, Ibrar Yaqoob, Mohsen Marjani, Shahabuddin Shamshirband, Abdullah Gani, and Fariza Nasaruddin. A survey of big data management: taxonomy and state-ofthe-art. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 71:151–166, 2016.

[2]. Chang Liu, Chi Yang, Xuyun Zhang, and Jinjun Chen. External integrity verification for outsourced big data in cloud and iot: A big picture. Future Generation Computer Systems, 49:58–67, 2015.

[3]. Maryam M Najafabadi, Flavio Villanustre, Taghi M Khoshgoftaar, Naeem Seliya, Randall Wald, and Edin Muharemagic. Deep learning applications and challenges in big data analytics. Journal of Big Data, 2(1):1, 2015.

[4]. Ian H Witten, Eibe Frank, Mark A Hall, and Christopher J Pal. Data Mining: Practical machine learning tools and techniques. Morgan Kaufmann, 2016.

[5]. Shahabi Amir. clustering algorithm in Wireless Sensor network , chapter Sustainable Interdependent Networks: From Theory to Application. Springer, accepted for publication (2018).

[6]. Mehdi Jafari, Jing Wang, Yongrui Qin, Mehdi Gheisari, Amir Shahab Shahabi, and Xiaohui Tao. Automatic text summarization using fuzzy inference. In Automation and Computing (ICAC), 2016 22nd International Conference on, pages 256–260. IEEE, 2016.

[7]. Mehdi Gheisari, Ali Akbar Movassagh, Yongrui Qin, Jianming Yong, Xiaohui Tao, Ji Zhang, and Haifeng Shen. Nsssd: A new semantic hierarchical storage for sensor data. In Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD), 2016 IEEE 20th International Conference on, pages 174–179. IEEE, 2016.

[8]. T. Tran, M. Rahman, M. Z. A. Bhuiyan, A. Kubota, S. Kiyomoto, and K. Omote. Optimizing share size in efficient and robust secret sharing scheme for big data. IEEE Transactions on Big Data, PP(99):1–1, 2017.

[9]. M. Z. A. Bhuiyan and J. Wu. Event detection through differential pattern mining in cyber-physical systems. Jun 2017.

[10]. W. Yu, J. Li, M. Z. A. Bhuiyan, R. Zhang, and J. Huai. Ring: Realtime emerging anomaly monitoring system over text streams. IEEE Transactions on Big Data, PP(99):1–1, 2017.