Architecture Index¶
This index separates documented concepts, local implementations, and external
pipeline coverage. Status labels use the reader-facing forms implemented,
reference-only, planned, and external pipeline. implemented means local
code, tests, and a demo exist. reference-only means the architecture is
included for learning and citations without a tested local implementation.
planned means future documentation or implementation work is intended but not
complete. external pipeline means the entry describes a framework-style
pipeline that is not reimplemented locally.
For a beginner-friendly explanation of why these architectures come first, see the Architecture Selection Guide.
| Architecture | Year | Family | Status | Parent | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) | 2015 | Dense prediction | reference-only | None | Read |
| U-Net | 2015 | U-Net family | implemented | FCN | Read |
| DeepLabv3+ | 2018 | General CV dense prediction, atrous encoder-decoder | reference-only | FCN | Read |
| 3D U-Net | 2016 | U-Net family, 3D | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| V-Net | 2016 | U-Net family, 3D | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| Residual U-Net / ResUNet-style variants | 2016 | U-Net family, residual variants | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| R2U-Net | 2018 | unet | reference-only | Residual U-Net / ResUNet-style variants | Read |
| MultiResUNet | 2020 | unet | reference-only | Residual U-Net / ResUNet-style variants | Read |
| U-Net++ | 2018 | U-Net family, skip variants | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| UNet 3+ | 2020 | unet | reference-only | U-Net++ | Read |
| Attention U-Net | 2018 | U-Net family, attention gates | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| U²-Net | 2020 | unet | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| nnU-Net | 2021 | Self-configuring pipeline | external pipeline | U-Net | Read |
| SegResNet | 2018 | unet | reference-only | Residual U-Net / ResUNet-style variants | Read |
| TransUNet | 2021 | Transformer hybrid | reference-only | U-Net | Read |
| Swin-Unet | 2021 | Transformer U-shape | reference-only | TransUNet | Read |
| UNETR | 2022 | 3D Transformer | reference-only | TransUNet | Read |
| Swin UNETR | 2022 | 3D shifted-window Transformer | reference-only | UNETR | Read |
| StarDist-3D | 2020 | instance-segmentation | reference-only | 3D U-Net | Read |
| Cellpose | 2021 | instance-segmentation | reference-only | StarDist-3D | Read |
| WNet3D | 2025 | instance-segmentation | reference-only | Cellpose | Read |
| MedSAM | 2024 | Promptable foundation model | reference-only | None | Read |
| SAM-Med2D | 2023 | Promptable foundation model, 2D medical adaptation | reference-only | None | Read |
| SAM-Med3D | 2023 | foundation-models | reference-only | MedSAM | Read |
| SegVol | 2023 | foundation-models | reference-only | MedSAM | Read |
| MedSAM2 | 2025 | Promptable foundation model, 3D and video | reference-only | None | Read |
How Chapters Will Grow¶
Each full chapter should include an understandable overview, visual schematic, minimum architecture form, technical walkthrough, model details, limitations, implementation status, and links to the original paper. U-Net is the first complete local implementation example.