Improvement of RBF neural networks using Fuzzy-OSD algorithm in an online radar pulse classification system

In this paper a new methodology for training radial basis function (RBF) neural networks is introduced and examined. This novel approach, called Fuzzy-OSD, could be used in applications, which need real-time capabilities for retraining neural networks. The proposed method uses fuzzy clustering in order to improve the functionality of the Optimum Steepest Descent (OSD) learning algorithm. This improvement is due to initialization of RBF units more precisely using fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm that results in producing better and the same network response in different retraining attempts. In addition, adjusting RBF units in the network with great accuracy will result in better performance in fewer train iterations, which is essential when fast retraining of the network is needed, especially in the real-time systems. We employed this new method in an online radar pulse classification system, which needs quick retraining of the network once new unseen emitters detected. Having compared result of applying the new algorithm and Three-Phase OSD method to benchmark problems from Proben1 database and also using them in our system, we achieved improvement in the results as presented in this paper. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.