An overview of
SOFT COMPUTING TECHNIQUES
SHADAN ALAM SHADAB (16/IEE/050)
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, SOE,
BLOCK-A, GAUTAM BUDDHA UNIVERSITY
SOFT COMPUTING TECHNIQUES 08/17/2020
Contents:
Page No.
Abstract 2
1. Introduction 3
2. An overview of unit I 4
3. An overview of unit II 6
4. An overview of unit III 7
5. An overview of unit IV 9
6. An overview of unit V 10
7. Conclusion 12
Reference 13
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ABSTRACT
Soft computing, as opposed to traditional computing, deals with approximate
models and gives solutions to complex real-life problems. Unlike hard
computing, soft computing is tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty, partial
truth, and approximations. In effect, the role model for soft computing is the
human mind. Soft computing is based on techniques such as fuzzy logic,
genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, machine learning, and expert
systems. Although soft computing theory and techniques were first introduced
in 1980s, it has now become a major research and study area in automatic
control engineering. The techniques of soft computing are nowadays being
used successfully in many domestic, commercial, and industrial applications.
With the advent of the low-cost and very high performance digital processors
and the reduction of the cost of memory chips it is clear that the techniques
and application areas of soft computing will continue to expand.
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1. Introduction:
One of the problems in traditional control systems is that complex plants
cannot be accurately described by mathematical models, and are therefore difficult
to control using such existing methods. Soft computing on the other hand deals with
partial truth, uncertainty, and approximation to solve complex problems.
Because of its features such as intelligent control, nonlinear programming,
optimization, and decision making support, soft computing has become popular
and has drawn research interest from people with different backgrounds.
It is becoming difficult to control the growing complexity of modern machinery
using traditional control systems techniques. For example, many nonlinear and time-
variant plants with large time delays cannot easily be controlled and stabilized using
traditional techniques. One of the reasons for this difficulty is the lack of an accurate
model that describes the plant. Soft computing is proving to be an efficient way of
controlling such complex plants.
It is a combination of several methods, such as fuzzy logic, neural networks, and
genetic algorithms. All these methods are not competitive, but are complimentary
to each other and can be used together to solve a given problem. It can be said that
soft computing aims to solve complex problems by exploiting the imprecision and
uncertainty in decision making processes.
Fig.1: Problem solving approach
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2. An overview of Unit I:
In unit I we have to study about various computation techniques including classical
techniques, Concept of Artificial intelligence, problem solving methods and
searching techniques.
Artificial intelligence:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by
machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert
systems, natural language processing (NLP), Speech recognition and machine
vision.
AI programming focuses on three cognitive skills: learning, reasoning and self-
correction.
1. Learning processes: This aspect of AI programming focuses on acquiring data
and creating rules for how to turn the data into actionable information. The
rules, which are called algorithms, provide computing devices with step-by-step
instructions for how to complete a specific task.
2. Reasoning processes: This aspect of AI programming focuses on choosing the
right algorithm to reach a desired outcome.
3. Self-correction processes: This aspect of AI programming is designed to
continually fine-tune algorithms and ensure they provide the most accurate
results possible.
Advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence:
Artificial neural networks and deep learning artificial intelligence technologies are
quickly evolving, primarily because AI processes large amounts of data much faster
and makes predictions more accurately than humanly possible.
While the huge volume of data being created on a daily basis would bury a human
researcher, AI applications that use machine learning can take that data and quickly
turn it into actionable information. As of this writing, the primary disadvantage of
using AI is that it is expensive to process the large amounts of data that AI
programming requires.
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History of AI:
The concept of inanimate objects endowed with intelligence has been around since
ancient times. The Greek god Hephaestus was depicted in myths as forging robot-
like servants out of gold. Engineers in ancient Egypt built statues of gods animated
by priests. Throughout the centuries, thinkers from Aristotle to the 13th century
Spanish theologian Ramon Llull to René Descartes and Thomas Bayes used the tools
and logic of their times to describe human thought processes as symbols, laying the
foundation for AI concepts such as general knowledge representation.
The late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries brought forth the foundational work
that would give rise to the modern computer. In 1836, Cambridge University
mathematician Charles Babbage and Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace,
invented the first design for a programmable machine. In the 1940s, Princeton
mathematician John Von Neumann conceived the architecture for the stored-
program computer -- the idea that a computer's program and the data it processes
can be kept in the computer's memory. And Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts laid
the foundation for neural networks.
With the advent of modern computers, scientists could test their ideas about machine
intelligence. One method for determining whether a computer has intelligence was
devised by the British mathematician and World War II code-breaker Alan Turing
in 1950. The Turing Test focused on a computer's ability to fool interrogators into
believing its responses to their questions were made by a human being.
The modern field of artificial intelligence is widely cited as starting in 1956 during
a summer conference at Dartmouth College. Sponsored by the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the conference was attended by 10 luminaries
in the field, including AI pioneers Marvin Minsky, Oliver Selfridge and John
McCarthy, who is credited with coining the term artificial intelligence. Also in
attendance were Allen Newell, a computer scientist, and Herbert A. Simon, an
economist, political scientist and cognitive psychologist, who presented their
groundbreaking Logic Theorist, a computer program capable of proving certain
mathematical theorems and referred to as the first AI program.
In the wake of the Dartmouth College conference, leaders in the fledgling field of
AI predicted that a man-made intelligence equivalent to the human brain was around
the corner, attracting major government and industry support. Indeed, nearly 20
years of well-funded basic research generated significant advances in AI: For
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example, in the late 1950s, Newell and Simon published the General Problem Solver
(GPS) algorithm, which fell short of solving complex problems but laid the
foundations for developing more sophisticated cognitive architectures; McCarthy
developed Lisp, a language for AI programming that is still used today. In the mid-
1960s MIT Professor Joseph Weizenbaum developed ELIZA, an early natural
language processing program that laid the foundation for today's chatbots.
But the achievement of artificial general intelligence proved elusive, not imminent,
hampered by limitations in computer processing and memory and by the complexity
of the problem. Government and corporations backed away from their support of AI
research, leading to a fallow period lasting from 1974 to 1980 and known as the first
"AI Winter." In the 1980s, research on deep learning techniques and industry's
adoption of Edward Feigenbaum's expert systems sparked a new wave of AI
enthusiasm, only to be followed by another collapse of government funding and
industry support. The second AI winter lasted until the mid-1990s.
Increases in computational power and an explosion of data sparked an AI
renaissance in the late 1990s that has continued to present times. The latest focus on
AI has given rise to breakthroughs in natural language processing, computer vision,
robotics, machine learning, deep learning and more. Moreover, AI is becoming ever
more tangible, powering cars, diagnosing disease and cementing its role in popular
culture.
3. An overview of unit II:
Fuzzy systems: Fuzzy sets, operation on fuzzy sets, Fuzzy Relations, Membership
functions, Matrix representation, Fuzzy logic controller.
Fuzzy logic:
The concept of fuzz logic was introduced by Zadeh as a method for representing
human knowledge that is imprecise by nature. Fig. 2 shows the basic configuration
of a fuzzy logic system. The fuzzification interface transforms the crisp input value
into a fuzzy linguistic value. The fuzzification is always necessary in a fuzzy logic
system since the input values from existing sensors are always crisp numerical
values. The inference engine takes the fuzzy input and the fuzzy rule base and
generates fuzzy outputs. The fuzzy rule base is in the form of “IF-THEN” rules
involving linguistic variables. The last processing element of a fuzzy logic system is
the defuzzification which has the task of producing crisp output actions.
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Perhaps one of the biggest advantage of fuzzy logic is that it offers a practical way
for designing nonlinear control systems which are difficult to design and stabilize
using traditional methods.
Fig.2: Architecture of a fuzzy logic system
4. An overview of Unit III:
Artificial neural networks:
Artificial neural networks (ANN), or neural computing is one of the rapidly growing
fields of research, attracting researchers from a wide variety of engineering
disciplines, such as electronic engineering, control engineering, and software
engineering. ANNs are information processing systems that are inspired by the way
biological nervous system and the brain works. ANNs are usually configured for
specific applications, such as pattern recognition, data recognition, image
processing, stock market prediction, weather prediction, image compression, and
security and loan applications. Neural networks aim to bring the traditional
computers a little closer to the way human brain works. ANNS work best if the
relationship between the inputs and outputs are highly non-linear. ANNs are highly
suitable for solving problems where there are no algorithms or specific set of rules
to be followed in order to solve the problem. A neural network is a large network of
interconnected elements, inspired by the human neurons. Each neuron performs a
little operations and the overall operation is the weighted sum of these operations. A
neural network has to be trained so that a known set of inputs produces the desired
outputs. Training is usually done by feeding teaching patterns to the network and
letting the network to change its weighting function according to some previously
defined learning rules. The learning can either be supervised, or unsupervised. In
supervised learning the network under investigation is trained by giving it inputs and
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matching output patterns. i.e. the outcomes are known for specific inputs. In
unsupervised learning the output of the network is trained to respond to input
patterns.
Fig.3 : Artificial neural network
Some of the advantages and disadvantages of neural networks are:
ANNs are not universal tools for solving problems as there is no
methodology for training and verifying an ANN.
The result of an ANN depends upon the accuracy of the available data.
Excessive training may be required in complex ANN systems.
ANNs can deal with incomplete data sets.
ANNs are successful in prediction and forecasting applications.
An ANN is basically composed of three layers: input, hidden layer, and output,
where each layer can have number of nodes. Backpropagation algorithm is used in
most ANN networks as a method to train the network. Here, output of the neural
network is evaluated against desired output, and if the results are not as expected,
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the weights between layers are modified and the process is repeated until a very
small error remains.
5. An overview of Unit IV:
Genetic algorithms:
Genetic algorithms are parts of artificial intelligence and fuzzy computing and they
are mainly used to solve various optimization problems encountered in real-life
applications. The basic idea of a genetic algorithm is to mimic the natural selection
in nature in order to find a good selection for an application. Genetic algorithm is
basically a model of machine learning inspired by the process of evolution in nature.
A genetic algorithm can be used for finding solutions complex search problems
found in engineering applications. For example, they can search through various
designs and components to find the best combination that will result in overall better
and cheaper design. Genetic algorithms are used in many diverse fields nowadays,
such as climatology, biomedical engineering, code-breaking, control engineering,
games theory, electronic design, and automated manufacturing and design.
Fig.4 : flow chart of genetic algorthim
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The basic processes in genetic algorithms are:
Initialization, where an initial population is created randomly.
Evaluation, where each member of the population is evaluated and the
fitness of the individuals are assessed based on how well they fit the
desired requirements.
Selection, where only the ones that fit the desired requirements are
selected.
Crossover, where new individual are created by combining best aspects of
the existing individuals. At the end of this it is expected to create
individuals that are closer to the desired requirements.
The process is repeated from the second step until a termination condition is finally
reached.
6. An overview of Unit V:
Hybrid system:
Hybrid system theory lies at the intersection of the fields of engineering control
theory and computer science verification. It is defined as the modeling, analysis, and
control of systems that involve the interaction of both discrete state systems,
represented by finite automata, and continuous state dynamics, represented by
differential equations. The embedded autopilot of a modern commercial jet is a
prime example of a hybrid system: the autopilot modes correspond to the application
of different control laws, and the logic of mode switching is determined by the
continuous state dynamics of the aircraft, as well as through interaction with the
pilot. To understand the behavior of hybrid systems, to simulate, and to control these
systems, theoretical advances, analyses, and numerical tools are needed.
Differential Evaluation:
Differential Evolution (DE) has been a competitive stochastic realparameter
optimization algorithm since it was introduced in 1995. DE possesses computational
steps similar to a standard Evolutionary Algorithm (EA). DE perturbs the population
members with the scaled differences of distinct population members. Hence, a step-
size parameter used in algorithms such as evolutionary programming and evolution
strategy is not required to be specified. Due to its consistent robust performance, DE
has drawn the attention of many researchers all over the world. This article presents
a brief review of the recent DE-variants for bound constrained single objective,
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multi-objective and multimodal optimization problems. It also suggests potential
applications of DE in remanufacturing.
Bacteria foraging:
Bacteria foraging algorithm (BFA) is a powerful optimization method that is
formulated by considering the elimination of creatures with poor food searching
tactics. The poor searching strategy can be reshaped into better strategy.
Simulated Annealing:
Simulated Annealing (SA) is an effective and general form of optimization. It is
useful in finding global optima in the presence of large numbers of local optima.
“Annealing” refers to an analogy with thermodynamics, specifically with the way
that metals cool and anneal. Simulated annealing uses the objective function of an
optimization problem instead of the energy of a material.
Harmony Search Method:
As we know, when musicians compose the harmony, they usually try various
possible combinations of the music pitches stored in their memory. This search for
the perfect harmony is indeed analogous to the procedure of finding the optimal
solutions to engineering problems. The HS method is actually inspired by the
working principles of the harmony improvisation. Figure shows the flowchart of the
basic HS method, in which there are four principal steps involved.
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Fig.5 : Flow chart of harmony search
Conclusion:
Intelligent systems and hence soft computing techniques are becoming more
important as the power of computer processing devices increase and their cost is
reduced. Intelligent systems are required to make complex decisions and choose the
best outcome from many possibilities, using complex algorithms. This requires fast
processing power and large storage space which has recently become available in
recent years to many research centres, universities, and technical colleges at a very
low cost. With the power and the recognition of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept,
the need for using soft computing techniques and building intelligent systems have
become more important than ever. Nowadays, most soft computing applications can
be handled efficiently by low-cost but super-fast microcontrollers. Already we see
the use of fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, and expert systems in many
everyday domestic appliances, such as washing machines, cookers, and fridges.
Many industrial and commercial applications of soft computing are also in everyday
use and this is expected to grow within the next decade.
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Reference:
1. 12th International Conference on Application of Fuzzy Systems and Soft
Computing, ICAFS 2016, 29-30 August 2016, Vienna, Austria, An overview
of soft computing, Dogan Ibrahim*
2. [Link]
Intelligence
3. Harmony Search Method: Theory and Applications, Volume 2015 |Article ID
258491 | 10 pages | [Link]
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