A sequential multi-category classifier using radial basis function networks

This paper presents a new sequential multi-category classifier using radial basis function (SMC-RBF) network for real-world classification problems. The classification algorithm processes the training data one by one and builds the RBF network starting with zero hidden neuron. The growth criterion uses the misclassification error, the approximation error to the true decision boundary and a distance measure between the current sample and the nearest neuron belonging to the same class. SMC-RBF uses the hinge loss function (instead of the mean square loss function) for a more accurate estimate of the posterior probability. For network parameter updates, a decoupled extended Kalman filter is used to reduce the computational overhead. Performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using three benchmark problems, viz., image segmentation, vehicle and glass from the UCI machine learning repository. In addition, performance comparison has also been done on two real-world problems in the areas of remote sensing and bio-informatics. The performance of the proposed SMC-RBF classifier is also compared with the other RBF sequential learning algorithms like MRAN, GAP-RBFN, OS-ELM and the well-known batch classification algorithm SVM. The results indicate that SMC-RBF produces a higher classification accuracy with a more compact network. Also, the study indicates that using a function approximation algorithm for classification problems may not work well when the classes are not well separated and the training data is not uniformly distributed among the classes.