An Evolutionary Field Theorem: Evolutionary Field Optimization in Training of Power-Weighted Multiplicative Neurons for Nitrogen Oxides-Sensitive Electronic Nose Applications

Neuroevolutionary machine learning is an emerging topic in the evolutionary computation field and enables practical modeling solutions for data-driven engineering applications. Contributions of this study to the neuroevolutionary machine learning area are twofold: firstly, this study presents an evolutionary field theorem of search agents and suggests an algorithm for Evolutionary Field Optimization with Geometric Strategies (EFO-GS) on the basis of the evolutionary field theorem. The proposed EFO-GS algorithm benefits from a field-adapted differential crossover mechanism, a field-aware metamutation process to improve the evolutionary search quality. Secondly, the multiplicative neuron model is modified to develop Power-Weighted Multiplicative (PWM) neural models. The modified PWM neuron model involves the power-weighted multiplicative units similar to dendritic branches of biological neurons, and this neuron model can better represent polynomial nonlinearity and they can operate in the real-valued neuron mode, complex-valued neuron mode, and the mixed-mode. In this study, the EFO-GS algorithm is used for the training of the PWM neuron models to perform an efficient neuroevolutionary computation. Authors implement the proposed PWM neural processing with the EFO-GS in an electronic nose application to accurately estimate Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x) pollutant concentrations from low-cost multi-sensor array measurements and demonstrate improvements in estimation performance.