A New Neural Dynamic Classification Algorithm

Abstract

The keys for the development of an effective classification algorithm are: 1) discovering feature spaces with large margins between clusters and close proximity of the classmates and 2) discovering the smallest number of the features to perform accurate classification. In this paper, a new supervised classification algorithm, called neural dynamic classification (NDC), is presented with the goal of: 1) discovering the most effective feature spaces and 2) finding the optimum number of features required for accurate classification using the patented robust neural dynamic optimization model of Adeli and Park. The new classification algorithm is compared with the probabilistic neural network (PNN), enhanced PNN (EPNN), and support vector machine using two sets of classification problems. The first set consists of five standard benchmark problems. The second set is a large benchmark problem called Mixed National Institute of Standards and Technology database of handwritten digits. In general, NDC yields the most accurate classification results followed by EPNN. A beauty of the new algorithm is the smoothness of convergence curves which is an indication of robustness and good performance of the algorithm. The main aim is to maximize the prediction accuracy.