Optimized Design of Neural Networks for a River Water Level Prediction System.

In this paper, a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) framework for the design of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models is used to design 1-step-ahead prediction models of river water levels. The design procedure is a near-automatic method that, given the data at hand, can partition it into datasets and is able to determine a near-optimal model with the right topology and inputs, offering a good performance on unseen data, i.e., data not used for model design. An example using more than 11 years of water level data (593,178 samples) of the Carrión river collected at Villoldo gauge station shows that the MOGA framework can obtain low-complex models with excellent performance on unseen data, achieving an RMSE of 2.5 × 10-3, which compares favorably with results obtained by alternative design.

A neural network based intelligent predictive sensor for cloudiness, solar radiation and air temperature.

Accurate measurements of global solar radiation and atmospheric temperature,as well as the availability of the predictions of their evolution over time, are important for different areas of applications, such as agriculture, renewable energy and energy management, or thermal comfort in buildings. For this reason, an intelligent, light-weight and portable sensor was developed, using artificial neural network models as the time-series predictor mechanisms. These have been identified with the aid of a procedure based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm. As cloudiness is the most significant factor affecting the solar radiation reaching a particular location on the Earth surface, it has great impact on the performance of predictive solar radiation models for that location. This work also represents one step towards the improvement of such models by using ground-to-sky hemispherical colour digital images as a means to estimate cloudiness by the fraction of visible sky corresponding to clouds and to clear sky. The implementation of predictive models in the prototype has been validated and the system is able to function reliably, providing measurements and four-hour forecasts of cloudiness, solar radiation and air temperature.

Neuro-genetic non-invasive temperature estimation: intensity and spatial prediction.

OBJECTIVES: The existence of proper non-invasive temperature estimators is an essential aspect when thermal therapy applications are envisaged. These estimators must be good predictors to enable temperature estimation at different operational situations, providing better control of the therapeutic instrumentation. In this work, radial basis functions artificial neural networks were constructed to access temperature evolution on an ultrasound insonated medium. METHODS: The employed models were radial basis functions neural networks with external dynamics induced by their inputs. Both the most suited set of model inputs and number of neurons in the network were found using the multi-objective genetic algorithm. The neural models were validated in two situations: the operating ones, as used in the construction of the network; and in 11 unseen situations. The new data addressed two new spatial locations and a new intensity level, assessing the intensity and space prediction capacity of the proposed model. RESULTS: Good performance was obtained during the validation process both in terms of the spatial points considered and whenever the new intensity level was within the range of applied intensities. A maximum absolute error of 0.5 degrees C+/-10% (0.5 degrees C is the gold-standard threshold in hyperthermia/diathermia) was attained with low computationally complex models. CONCLUSION: The results confirm that the proposed neuro-genetic approach enables foreseeing temperature propagation, in connection to intensity and space parameters, thus enabling the assessment of different operating situations with proper temperature resolution.

A soft-computing methodology for noninvasive time-spatial temperature estimation.

The safe and effective application of thermal therapies is restricted due to lack of reliable noninvasive temperature estimators. In this paper, the temporal echo-shifts of backscattered ultrasound signals, collected from a gel-based phantom, were tracked and assigned with the past temperature values as radial basis functions neural networks input information. The phantom was heated using a piston-like therapeutic ultrasound transducer. The neural models were assigned to estimate the temperature at different intensities and points arranged across the therapeutic transducer radial line (60 mm apart from the transducer face). Model inputs, as well as the number of neurons were selected using the multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The best attained models present, in average, a maximum absolute error less than 0.5 degrees C, which is pointed as the borderline between a reliable and an unreliable estimator in hyperthermia/diathermia. In order to test the spatial generalization capacity, the best models were tested using spatial points not yet assessed, and some of them presented a maximum absolute error inferior to 0.5 degrees C, being "elected" as the best models. It should be also stressed that these best models present implementational low-complexity, as desired for real-time applications.