Simplifying a neuro-fuzzy model

Neuro-fuzzy modeling allows a fuzzy system to be refined by neural training, thus avoiding lenghty trial-and-error phases in defining both membership functions and inference rules. An approach to obtain simple neuro-fuzzy models is proposed, which reduces the number of rules by means of a systematic procedure that consists in successively removing a rule and updating the remaining rules in such a way that the overall input-output behavior is kept approximately unchanged over the entire training set. A formulation of the proper update is described and a criterion for choosing the rules to be removed is also provided. Initial experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in reducing the complexity of a neuro-fuzzy system by using its input-output data.