MELM-GRBF: A modified version of the extreme learning machine for generalized radial basis function neural networks

In this paper, we propose a methodology for training a new model of artificial neural network called the generalized radial basis function (GRBF) neural network. This model is based on generalized Gaussian distribution, which parametrizes the Gaussian distribution by adding a new parameter tau. The generalized radial basis function allows different radial basis functions to be represented by updating the new parameter tau. For example, when GRBF takes a value of tau = 2, it represents the standard Gaussian radial basis function. The model parameters are optimized through a modified version of the extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. In the methodology proposed (MELM-GRBF), the centers of each GRBF were taken randomly from the patterns of the training set and the radius and tau values were determined analytically, taking into account that the model must fulfil two constraints: locality and coverage. An thorough experimental study is presented to test its overall performance. Fifteen datasets were considered, including binary and multi-class problems, all of them taken from the UCI repository. The MELM-GRBF was compared to ELM with sigmoidal, hard-limit, triangular basis and radial basis functions in the hidden layer and to the ELM-RBF methodology proposed by Huang et al. (2004) [1]. The MELM-GRBF obtained better results in accuracy than the corresponding sigmoidal, hard-limit, triangular basis and radial basis functions for almost all datasets, producing the highest mean accuracy rank when compared with these other basis functions for all datasets. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.