A potential-based clustering method with hierarchical optimization

This work proposes a novel data clustering algorithm based on the potential field model, with a hierarchical optimization mechanism on the algorithm. There are two stages in this algorithm. Firstly, we build an edge-weighted tree based on the mutual distances between all data points and their hypothetical potential values derived from the data distribution. Using the tree structure, the dataset can be divided into an appropriate number of initial sub-clusters, with the cluster centers close to the local minima of the potential field. Then the sub-clusters are further merged according to the well-designed merging criteria by analyzing their border potential values and the cluster average potential values. The proposed clustering algorithm follows a hierarchical clustering mechanism, and aims to optimize the initial sub-cluster results in the first stage. The algorithm takes advantage of the cluster merging criteria to merge the sub-clusters, so it can automatically stop the clustering process without designating the number of clusters in advance. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm produces the most satisfactory clustering results in most cases compared with other existing methods, and can effectively identify the data clusters with arbitrary shape, size and density.