AGENT-BASED APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF RBF NETWORKS.

This article proposes a novel approach to the radial basis function network (RBFN) design. Its main idea is to apply the agent-based population learning algorithm to the task of initialization and training RBFNs. The approach allows for an effective network initialization and estimation of its output weights. The initialization involves two stages, where in the first one initial clusters are produced using the similarity-based procedure and next, in the second stage, prototypes (centroids) from the thus-obtained clusters are selected. The agent-based population learning algorithm is used to select prototypes. In the proposed implementation of the algorithm, both tasks—RBFN initialization and RBFN training—are carried out by a team of agents executing various local search procedures and cooperating with a view to determine the solution to the RBFN design problem at hand. The performance of the RBFN constructed using the proposed agent-based approach is analyzed and evaluated. The proposed approach is also compared with different RBFN initialization and training procedures in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]