Terrain Classification for Ground Robots Based on Acoustic Features

The motivation of our work is to detect different terrain types traversed by a robot based on acoustic data from the robot-terrain interaction. Different acoustic features and classifiers were investigated, such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient and Gamma-tone frequency cepstral coefficient for the feature extraction, and Gaussian mixture model and Feed forward neural network for the classification. We analyze the system’s performance by comparing our proposed techniques with some other features surveyed from distinct related works. We achieve precision and recall values between 87% and 100% per class, and an average accuracy at 95.2%. We also study the effect of varying audio chunk size in the application phase of the models and find only a mild impact on performance.

Dry Relaxation Shrinkage Prediction of Bordeaux Fiber Using a Feed Forward Neural

The knitted fabric suffers a deformation in its dimensions due to stretching and tension factors, transverse and longitudinal respectively, during the process in rectilinear knitting machines so it performs a dry relaxation shrinkage procedure and thermal action of prefixed to obtain stable conditions in the knitting. This paper presents a dry relaxation shrinkage prediction of Bordeaux fiber using a feed forward neural network and linear regression models. Six operational alternatives of shrinkage were predicted. A comparison of the results was performed finding neural network models with higher levels of explanation of the variability and prediction. The presence of different reposes is included. The models were obtained through a neural toolbox of Matlab and Minitab software with real data in a knitting company of Southern Guanajuato. The results allow predicting dry relaxation shrinkage of each alternative operation.

Analysis of Combined Use of NN and MFCC for Speech Recognition

The performance and analysis of speech recognition system is illustrated in this paper. An approach to recognize the English word corresponding to digit (0-9) spoken by 2 different speakers is captured in noise free environment. For feature extraction, speech Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) has been used which gives a set of feature vectors from recorded speech samples. Neural network model is used to enhance the recognition performance. Feed forward neural network with back propagation algorithm model is used. However other speech recognition techniques such as HMM, DTW exist. All experiments are carried out on Matlab.

Computer Aided Diagnosis of Polycystic Kidney Disease Using ANN

Many inherited diseases and non-hereditary disorders are common in the development of renal cystic diseases. Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a disorder developed within the kidneys in which grouping of cysts filled with water like fluid. PKD is responsible for 5-10% of end-stage renal failure treated by dialysis or transplantation. New experimental models, application of molecular biology techniques have provided new insights into the pathogenesis of PKD. Researchers are showing keen interest for developing an automated system by applying computer aided techniques for the diagnosis of diseases. In this paper a multilayered feed forward neural network with one hidden layer is constructed, trained and tested by applying back propagation learning rule for the diagnosis of PKD based on physical symptoms and test results of urinalysis collected from the individual patients. The data collected from 50 patients are used to train and test the network. Among these samples, 75% of the data used for training and remaining 25% of the data are used for testing purpose. Further, this trained network is used to implement for new samples. The output results in normality and abnormality of the patient.

Massive Lesions Classification using Features based on Morphological Lesion Differences

Purpose of this work is the development of an automatic classification system which could be useful for radiologists in the investigation of breast cancer. The software has been designed in the framework of the MAGIC-5 collaboration. In the automatic classification system the suspicious regions with high probability to include a lesion are extracted from the image as regions of interest (ROIs). Each ROI is characterized by some features based on morphological lesion differences. Some classifiers as a Feed Forward Neural Network, a K-Nearest Neighbours and a Support Vector Machine are used to distinguish the pathological records from the healthy ones. The results obtained in terms of sensitivity (percentage of pathological ROIs correctly classified) and specificity (percentage of non-pathological ROIs correctly classified) will be presented through the Receive Operating Characteristic curve (ROC). In particular the best performances are 88% ± 1 of area under ROC curve obtained with the Feed Forward Neural Network.

Metaheuristic Algorithms for Decoding Binary Linear Codes

This paper introduces two decoders for binary linear codes based on Metaheuristics. The first one uses a genetic algorithm and the second is based on a combination genetic algorithm with a feed forward neural network. The decoder based on the genetic algorithms (DAG) applied to BCH and convolutional codes give good performances compared to Chase-2 and Viterbi algorithm respectively and reach the performances of the OSD-3 for some Residue Quadratic (RQ) codes. This algorithm is less complex for linear block codes of large block length; furthermore their performances can be improved by tuning the decoder-s parameters, in particular the number of individuals by population and the number of generations. In the second algorithm, the search space, in contrast to DAG which was limited to the code word space, now covers the whole binary vector space. It tries to elude a great number of coding operations by using a neural network. This reduces greatly the complexity of the decoder while maintaining comparable performances.

Application of Feed Forward Neural Networks in Modeling and Control of a Fed-Batch Crystallization Process

This paper is focused on issues of nonlinear dynamic process modeling and model-based predictive control of a fed-batch sugar crystallization process applying the concept of artificial neural networks as computational tools. The control objective is to force the operation into following optimal supersaturation trajectory. It is achieved by manipulating the feed flow rate of sugar liquor/syrup, considered as the control input. A feed forward neural network (FFNN) model of the process is first built as part of the controller structure to predict the process response over a specified (prediction) horizon. The predictions are supplied to an optimization procedure to determine the values of the control action over a specified (control) horizon that minimizes a predefined performance index. The control task is rather challenging due to the strong nonlinearity of the process dynamics and variations in the crystallization kinetics. However, the simulation results demonstrated smooth behavior of the control actions and satisfactory reference tracking.

Improving the Convergence of the Backpropagation Algorithm Using Local Adaptive Techniques

Since the presentation of the backpropagation algorithm, a vast variety of improvements of the technique for training a feed forward neural networks have been proposed. This article focuses on two classes of acceleration techniques, one is known as Local Adaptive Techniques that are based on weightspecific only, such as the temporal behavior of the partial derivative of the current weight. The other, known as Dynamic Adaptation Methods, which dynamically adapts the momentum factors, α, and learning rate, η, with respect to the iteration number or gradient. Some of most popular learning algorithms are described. These techniques have been implemented and tested on several problems and measured in terms of gradient and error function evaluation, and percentage of success. Numerical evidence shows that these techniques improve the convergence of the Backpropagation algorithm.

Optimum Surface Roughness Prediction in Face Milling of High Silicon Stainless Steel

This paper presents an approach for the determination of the optimal cutting parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut and engagement) leading to minimum surface roughness in face milling of high silicon stainless steel by coupling neural network (NN) and Electromagnetism-like Algorithm (EM). In this regard, the advantages of statistical experimental design technique, experimental measurements, artificial neural network, and Electromagnetism-like optimization method are exploited in an integrated manner. To this end, numerous experiments on this stainless steel were conducted to obtain surface roughness values. A predictive model for surface roughness is created by using a back propogation neural network, then the optimization problem was solved by using EM optimization. Additional experiments were performed to validate optimum surface roughness value predicted by EM algorithm. It is clearly seen that a good agreement is observed between the predicted values by EM coupled with feed forward neural network and experimental measurements. The obtained results show that the EM algorithm coupled with back propogation neural network is an efficient and accurate method in approaching the global minimum of surface roughness in face milling.

Hand Gesture Recognition: Sign to Voice System (S2V)

Hand gesture is one of the typical methods used in sign language for non-verbal communication. It is most commonly used by people who have hearing or speech problems to communicate among themselves or with normal people. Various sign language systems have been developed by manufacturers around the globe but they are neither flexible nor cost-effective for the end users. This paper presents a system prototype that is able to automatically recognize sign language to help normal people to communicate more effectively with the hearing or speech impaired people. The Sign to Voice system prototype, S2V, was developed using Feed Forward Neural Network for two-sequence signs detection. Different sets of universal hand gestures were captured from video camera and utilized to train the neural network for classification purpose. The experimental results have shown that neural network has achieved satisfactory result for sign-to-voice translation.

Automatic Removal of Ocular Artifacts using JADE Algorithm and Neural Network

The ElectroEncephaloGram (EEG) is useful for clinical diagnosis and biomedical research. EEG signals often contain strong ElectroOculoGram (EOG) artifacts produced by eye movements and eye blinks especially in EEG recorded from frontal channels. These artifacts obscure the underlying brain activity, making its visual or automated inspection difficult. The goal of ocular artifact removal is to remove ocular artifacts from the recorded EEG, leaving the underlying background signals due to brain activity. In recent times, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithms have demonstrated superior potential in obtaining the least dependent source components. In this paper, the independent components are obtained by using the JADE algorithm (best separating algorithm) and are classified into either artifact component or neural component. Neural Network is used for the classification of the obtained independent components. Neural Network requires input features that exactly represent the true character of the input signals so that the neural network could classify the signals based on those key characters that differentiate between various signals. In this work, Auto Regressive (AR) coefficients are used as the input features for classification. Two neural network approaches are used to learn classification rules from EEG data. First, a Polynomial Neural Network (PNN) trained by GMDH (Group Method of Data Handling) algorithm is used and secondly, feed-forward neural network classifier trained by a standard back-propagation algorithm is used for classification and the results show that JADE-FNN performs better than JADEPNN.

Advanced Neural Network Learning Applied to Pulping Modeling

This paper reports work done to improve the modeling of complex processes when only small experimental data sets are available. Neural networks are used to capture the nonlinear underlying phenomena contained in the data set and to partly eliminate the burden of having to specify completely the structure of the model. Two different types of neural networks were used for the application of pulping problem. A three layer feed forward neural networks, using the Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) methods were used in this investigation. Preconditioning is a method to improve convergence by lowering the condition number and increasing the eigenvalues clustering. The idea is to solve the modified odified problem M-1 Ax= M-1b where M is a positive-definite preconditioner that is closely related to A. We mainly focused on Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient- based training methods which originated from optimization theory, namely Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Fletcher-Reeves Update (PCGF), Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Polak-Ribiere Update (PCGP) and Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Powell-Beale Restarts (PCGB). The behavior of the PCG methods in the simulations proved to be robust against phenomenon such as oscillations due to large step size.

Inverse Problem Methodology for the Measurement of the Electromagnetic Parameters Using MLP Neural Network

This paper presents an approach which is based on the use of supervised feed forward neural network, namely multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network and finite element method (FEM) to solve the inverse problem of parameters identification. The approach is used to identify unknown parameters of ferromagnetic materials. The methodology used in this study consists in the simulation of a large number of parameters in a material under test, using the finite element method (FEM). Both variations in relative magnetic permeability and electrical conductivity of the material under test are considered. Then, the obtained results are used to generate a set of vectors for the training of MLP neural network. Finally, the obtained neural network is used to evaluate a group of new materials, simulated by the FEM, but not belonging to the original dataset. Noisy data, added to the probe measurements is used to enhance the robustness of the method. The reached results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach, and encourage future works on this subject.

Investigation of Some Technical Indexes inStock Forecasting Using Neural Networks

Training neural networks to capture an intrinsic property of a large volume of high dimensional data is a difficult task, as the training process is computationally expensive. Input attributes should be carefully selected to keep the dimensionality of input vectors relatively small. Technical indexes commonly used for stock market prediction using neural networks are investigated to determine its effectiveness as inputs. The feed forward neural network of Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is applied to perform one step ahead forecasting of NASDAQ and Dow stock prices.

Modeling of Pulping of Sugar Maple Using Advanced Neural Network Learning

This paper reports work done to improve the modeling of complex processes when only small experimental data sets are available. Neural networks are used to capture the nonlinear underlying phenomena contained in the data set and to partly eliminate the burden of having to specify completely the structure of the model. Two different types of neural networks were used for the application of Pulping of Sugar Maple problem. A three layer feed forward neural networks, using the Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) methods were used in this investigation. Preconditioning is a method to improve convergence by lowering the condition number and increasing the eigenvalues clustering. The idea is to solve the modified problem where M is a positive-definite preconditioner that is closely related to A. We mainly focused on Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient- based training methods which originated from optimization theory, namely Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Fletcher-Reeves Update (PCGF), Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Polak-Ribiere Update (PCGP) and Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient with Powell-Beale Restarts (PCGB). The behavior of the PCG methods in the simulations proved to be robust against phenomenon such as oscillations due to large step size.

Kinetic Modeling of the Fischer-Tropsch Reactions and Modeling Steady State Heterogeneous Reactor

The rate of production of main products of the Fischer-Tropsch reactions over Fe/HZSM5 bifunctional catalyst in a fixed bed reactor is investigated at a broad range of temperature, pressure, space velocity, H2/CO feed molar ratio and CO2, CH4 and water flow rates. Model discrimination and parameter estimation were performed according to the integral method of kinetic analysis. Due to lack of mechanism development for Fisher – Tropsch Synthesis on bifunctional catalysts, 26 different models were tested and the best model is selected. Comprehensive one and two dimensional heterogeneous reactor models are developed to simulate the performance of fixed-bed Fischer – Tropsch reactors. To reduce computational time for optimization purposes, an Artificial Feed Forward Neural Network (AFFNN) has been used to describe intra particle mass and heat transfer diffusion in the catalyst pellet. It is seen that products' reaction rates have direct relation with H2 partial pressure and reverse relation with CO partial pressure. The results show that the hybrid model has good agreement with rigorous mechanistic model, favoring that the hybrid model is about 25-30 times faster.

Improvement of Synchronous Machine Dynamic Characteristics via Neural Network Based Controllers

This paper presents Simulation and experimental study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of an adaptive artificial neural network stabilizer on enhancing the damping torque of a synchronous generator. For this purpose, a power system comprising a synchronous generator feeding a large power system through a short tie line is considered. The proposed adaptive neuro-control system consists of two multi-layered feed forward neural networks, which work as a plant model identifier and a controller. It generates supplementary control signals to be utilized by conventional controllers. The details of the interfacing circuits, sensors and transducers, which have been designed and built for use in tests, are presented. The synchronous generator is tested to investigate the effect of tuning a Power System Stabilizer (PSS) on its dynamic stability. The obtained simulation and experimental results verify the basic theoretical concepts.

Straight Line Defect Detection with Feed Forward Neural Network

Nowadays, hard disk is one of the most popular storage components. In hard disk industry, the hard disk drive must pass various complex processes and tested systems. In each step, there are some failures. To reduce waste from these failures, we must find the root cause of those failures. Conventionall data analysis method is not effective enough to analyze the large capacity of data. In this paper, we proposed the Hough method for straight line detection that helps to detect straight line defect patterns that occurs in hard disk drive. The proposed method will help to increase more speed and accuracy in failure analysis.

A Novel Prostate Segmentation Algorithm in TRUS Images

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in men and is a major cause of mortality in the most of countries. In many diagnostic and treatment procedures for prostate disease accurate detection of prostate boundaries in transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images is required. This is a challenging and difficult task due to weak prostate boundaries, speckle noise and the short range of gray levels. In this paper a novel method for automatic prostate segmentation in TRUS images is presented. This method involves preprocessing (edge preserving noise reduction and smoothing) and prostate segmentation. The speckle reduction has been achieved by using stick filter and top-hat transform has been implemented for smoothing. A feed forward neural network and local binary pattern together have been use to find a point inside prostate object. Finally the boundary of prostate is extracted by the inside point and an active contour algorithm. A numbers of experiments are conducted to validate this method and results showed that this new algorithm extracted the prostate boundary with MSE less than 4.6% relative to boundary provided manually by physicians.