Feedforward neural networks have been successfully developed and applied in many areas because of their universal approximation capability. However, there still remains the problem of determining a suitable network structure for the given task. In this paper, we propose a novel self-organizing neural network which automatically adjusts its structure according to the task. Utilizing both the constructive and the pruning procedures, the proposed algorithm finds a near-optimal network which is compact and shows good generalization performance. One of its important features is reliability, which means the randomness of neural networks is effectively reduced. The resultant networks can have suitable numbers of hidden neurons and hidden layers according to the complexity of the given task. The simulation results for the well-known function regression problems show that our method successfully organizes near-optimal networks.

Nonminimum phase systems are difficult to be controlled with a conventional PID-type controller because of their inherent characteristics of undershooting. A neuro-controller combined with a PID-type controller has been shown to improve the control performance of the nonminimum phase systems while maintaining stability. In this paper, we apply a multiobjective evolutionary optimization method for training the neuro-controller to reduce the undershooting of the nonminimum phase system. The computer simulation shows that the proposed multiobjective approach is very effective and suitable because it can minimize the control error as well as reduce undershooting and chattering. This method can be applied to many industrial nonminimum phase problems with ease.

Many simulated annealing algorithms use the Cauchy neighbors for fast convergence, and the conventional method uses the product of n one-dimensional Cauchy distributions as an approximation. However, this method slows down the search severely as the dimension gets high because of the dimension-wise neighbor generation. In this paper, we analyze the orthogonal neighbor characteristics of the conventional method and propose a method of generating symmetric neighbors from the n-dimensional Cauchy distribution. The simulation results show that the proposed method is very effective for the search in the simulated annealing and can be applied to many other stochastic optimization algorithms.

We deal with LTI nonminimum phase (NMP) systems which are difficult to control with conventional methods because of their inherent characteristics of undershoot. In such systems, reducing the undesirable undershoot phenomenon makes the response time of the systems much longer. Moreover, it is impossible to control the magnitude of undershoot in a direct way and to predict the response time. In this paper, we propose a novel two sliding mode control scheme which is capable of stably determining the magnitude of undershoot and thus the response time of NMP systems a priori. To do this, we introduce two sliding lines which are in charge of control in turn. One is used to stabilize the system and achieve asymptotic regulation eventually like the conventional sliding mode methods and the other to stably control the magnitude of undershoot from the beginning of control until the state meets the first sliding line. This control scheme will be proved to have an asymptotic regulation property. The computer simulation shows that the proposed control scheme is very effective and suitable for controlling the NMP systems compared with the conventional ones.