Computers and Industrial Engineering Vo[. 25, Nos 1--4, pp.

401--404, 1993
Printed in GreatBritain. All fightsreserved

0360-8352/9356.00+0.00
Copyright 1993PergamonPress Ltd

SELF LEARNING FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

Kamai S. All
Computer Engineering Technology Department
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5106

ABSTRACT:
Learning is a key element in the strive for machine intelligence. Unsupervised learning is even more important
for robots or autonomous systems that operate in remote environment away from human interactions, such
as the case in the fully automated factory floor. To achieve unsupervised learning, a variety of models and
techniques have been employed by investigators. In this paper some of the models, especially in the area of
Neural Networks are compared and contrasted. Special consideration will be given self organizing maps
(Kohonen Networks) [1,6]. A comparison of the Kohonen Networks and their biological counterpart is given.
The introduction of these systems to increase the intelligence, and hence the autonomy of systems, is
considered.
INTRODUCTION:
One of the means by which to achieve intelligence for autonomous systems is the simulation of the biological
neural network. As the biological networks are known for their flexibility and graceful degradation, it is hoped
that the utility of such simulations will be best suited for the autonomous systems.
In the following discussion, we shall start by examining the biological networks, in particular we will examine
the self organization characteristics of these systems. This should lay the ground for various postulates and
approximations used in the simulation of self organizing maps. Finally the applicability of self organized maps
to autonomous systems and how they may impact such systems will be investigated.
SELF ORGANIZATION IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS:
Though the broad topological structure of the mammalian Neural Networks are inherited, or genetically
predetermined, there axe strong evidence that these networks do self organize. Furthermore, that varying the
input parameters do cause a variation of the networks topology. It is present in the fiterature that total
deprivation of a synaptic junction of excitation will eventually result in the denervation of such a pathway.
Also, the continued successful excitation of a synaptic junction will eventually result in an increased efficacy
of such a junction. (Hebb [2]).

i .... 1

Figure la

Figure lb

[3]

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Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering

Considering the cerebral neocortex, Neural Networks in that part of the brain are essentially two dimensional
layers of cells, or cellular modules, that are strongly connected via lateral feedback. According to some
estimates, in the cortex there are 10,000 interconneetions emerging from and converging upon every principal
cell. The nature of these lateral interconnections is known to be excitatory in the short range (to a radius of
50 to 100 micrometers). Moving further out, the excitation then becomes inhibitory to a radius of 200 to 500
micrometers. Further still, the interaction becomes weakly excitatory [3] (see figure 1).
Coupling Hebb's hypothesis with the neoceribral cortex topology self organizing networks could be simulated.
In these simulations processing elements are allowed to interact laterally as shown in figure 1. In addition to
that, the weights or synaptic efficacy is allowed to increase for successful excitations. Given the competitive
nature of these networks, a localized bubble of activity would appear. The location of this activity bubble is
hence correlated to input signal's characteristics. This behavior was found to be in agreement with the
biological network activities. Figure 2. shows the activity on a raeoon's cortex showing the isolated and
localized areas of neural outputs [3].
,
i, , i

,i , i

I
I

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I

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,

l~i
,.

if!

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Figure 2 [3]
The main goal of simulating of such networks, is to assign input features to the activity bubbles, as this will
eventually allow for direct feature extraction using these networks.

SIMULATION OF SELF ORGANIZING MAPS:

To simulate self organization many apprc0dmations has to be made. These approximations may be attributed
to the sparse knowledge of the biological self organizing maps and the computing power limitations [4]. In this
study, the network being simulated is an m X n matrix of processing units. Each processing unit has a single
output that could fan out to all other processing units, including the unit producing the output itself, thus
achieving a complete lateral and self interconnectivity. The input vector is a k X ! matrix that is fed to all the
processing elements. Each element will hence have a set of input weights W,~ and W~, The weights W~ are
randomly selected, whereas the weights W,,~ are selected to mimic the lateral interactions of the biological
system. The lateral interaction of the network can hence be descn'bed by Figure 1, which is, strong self and
nearest neighbor excitation, inhibition of further out neighbors and slightly excitatory for the furthest out
neighbors. The magnitude of the lateral interaction function have been arbitrarily varied in search of better
network behavior. Self organizing maps were found to be very sensitive to the magnitude and shape of the
lateral interaction function.
In these networks to calculate the output of a processing element, for an input excitation 0 ( 0 , equation I was
utilized. The output of these elements was normalized to unity, i.e. O < n < l . This normalization was based on
the fact that neurons do have an output saturation value that could not be exceeded.

-~
n,(0=o[*~O ~ vkn.~(t-1)]
k-0.0

Where"

and

qi is the output of the ith element,

a[.] is a sigmoid function limiting the output to values below saturation
~ is the lateral interaction function

Cl)

ALI: Autonomous Systems

403

The function pl(t) is the input excitation, which is the input signals times their corresponding randomly selected
weights, as shown by equation 2.

~(O=~j.Wi

t~

In biological systems the excitation may last for a variable duration of time. In our simulation, however, the
input excitation is applied only for one time unit (triO), assuming no output at t<0. The lateral interactions
are then calculated for t>0. The number of times this calculation is conducted depends of the shape and
magnitude of the lateral interaction function. The network, eventually would yield a winner or a group of
localized winners. The winning group is then allowed to modify its weights in such a way that its chances of
winning are increased, i.e. only for the winning element or elements, the weights may be modified as shown
by equation 3.

Here et(t) is a gain function. Based on Hebb's hypothesis, namely that an input to a neuron that can
successfully generate an output yields a strengthening of that synaptie junction, the function t will increase
excitatory weights and reduce inhibitory weights that are receiving larger successful inputs. At the same time
ct reduces noise by reducing weights receiving small inputs. The function - is selected to be decaying in time
to disallow an indefinite modificatSon of weights.
Given the lateral interaction function, the processing elements are affected mostly by their nearer neighbors.
This caused the final outputs on the edges and corners of the network to be incorrect. The rational behind
these erroneous outputs was that edge elements have half as many neighbors as the central ones. Similarly
corners elements have only a quarter as many neighbors. In the biological network the lateral connectivity is
not complete, i.e. an elements is not necessarily connected to all other elements in the network, furthermore,
elements are not restricted by the rectangular matrix topology employed in this simulation.
To eliminate the edge effect in our simulation, a torroidal topology was employed, i.e. in an m X n matrix,
element m,n has elements 0,0 m,0 m-l,0 0,n 0,n-1 as well to be nearest neighbors. This eliminated the need
for large networks, hence, saving valuable computing time.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Upon presentation of different patterns to the network it was found that the resulting outputs were very
sensitive to variations in initial conditions. For example, slight variations in the lateral excitation resulted in
very different network behavior. The selection of y was based on observations of the biological system, and
was then varied yielding different networks that exhibit different behavior towards different groups of input
features.
To use a single network to perform an intelligent classification of the input group would probably be hard to
obtain. Looking at the biological system, signals in the sensory pathways do pass through relaying stations were
they can mix to produce an output that would retain the input correlation using another metric. In the
simulation these signal modifications have been carried out by controlling input parameters such as size, signal
magnitude, orientation, etc. To achieve better grouping and classification of input parameters, an attempt was
made to utilize a multi layered self organizing network- In such a network the input was taken through a set
of self organizing maps that were to perform the signal conditionin~ The output of these networks became
the input of a fmal self organizing map that was to perform the final classification of input parameters. To
effectively utilize such a set up for an autonomous platform, the needed computing capabilities grows to
unrealistic levels. This is because an autonomous platform would require the network to be very large and
flexible.
An autonomous system is one that is expected to perform satisfactorily away from human interference. It is
hence of great importance that such a system exhibits a high degree of reliability and flexibility. These features
become of even greater importance when such a system is to operate in a complex environment. A system
that will operate with minimum human intervention needs to be able to run fault free, or to be able to detect

and correctfaultsas they happen. Also Such a system should be able to adapt to the changing input variables
and perform the correct operation at the required time.

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Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering

Reliability of an autonomous system is viewed as it's fault tolerance and graceful degradation capabilities.
Using Neural Networks clearly lends itself to these two features. A Neural Network would keep performing
at a high level of efficiency even when some of its nodes are nonfunctional. When more and more nodes
become nonfunctional the systems performance would gradually depart from its optimum levels.
As regards the flexibility of an autonomous systems, it could be viewed as the system's ability to operate in
complex environments. Flexibility is hence the systems ability to adapt to the changing input variables. A
Neural Network is one of the few systems that are capable of self learning or self organization, and hence
autonomously adapting to the new environments. This makes Neural Networks good candidate for the use in
autonomous systems.
Theoretically, using Neural Networks in the design of autonomous systems lends a solution to some of these
problems. However, Neural Networks technology as it stands today, has its shortcomings. The networks
available today are very limited in size and hence in capability. Furthermore, different network architectures
have to be utilized to tackle different classes of problems. As yet, in most cases these problems are trivial,
being limited by network size, which in turn is limited by the available computing power.
Attempts to streamline this simulation process are currently underway. Clearly such attempts will decrease the
demand on computing power. This coupled with the rapidly advancing computer technology makes it possible
to have a usable Neural Network in the not so distant future [5].
CONCLUSIONS:
Neural Networks, and especially self organizing maps are well suited for autonomous systems. However, the
systems currently available are rather small in size and hence only capable of trivial mappings. To achieve
higher levels of intelligence, larger systems, will have to be utilized. Furthermore, multiple layers will have to
be employed to account for signal preprocessing. Expectedly, such architectures greatly increases the demand
for computing power. To achieve more powerful networks it is hence necessary to depart from the classical
computer architecture. An electronic architectures dedicated to the calculations of self organizing maps will
have to be utilized.
Furthermore, in these networks organization takes place while training is in progress. This results in a network
that can be used to produce fast outputs with a good degree of flexibility. To increase the network's flexibility,
self organization should allowed to continue even when the network is being used. The problem with such a
system is that the demand on computing capabilities will drastically increase.
With the ever rapidly advancing computer and electronics technology, complex self organizing maps should
be realizable in the near future, adding to the power and flexibility of autonomous systems.
REFERENCES:

[]]

Teuvo Kohonen, Self-Learning Inference Rules by Dynamically Expanding Context, IEEE First Annual
International Conference on Neural Networks, San Diego, California, June 21-24, 1987.

[2]

D. Hebb, Organization of Behavior, John Willy & Sons Inc., New York, 1949.

[3]

R. Hecht-Nielsen, Neurocomputin& Addison-Wesley, 1989.

[4]

D. L. Ali and K. S. Ali, "Fwo Dimensional Pattern Recognition In Neural Networks', Proceed/rigs of
the SCS Multiconference on Artificial Intelligence and Simulation: The Diversity of Applications, San
Diego, CA, 1988.

[51

Kuczewski et al, 'Neurocomputers Workstations and Processors: Approaches and Applications', IEEE
First Annual International Conference on Neural Networks, San Diego, California, June 21-24, 1987.

[6]

Luc Steel, Self Organization Through Selection, IEEE First Annual International Conference on Neural
Networks, San Diego, California, June 21-24, 1987.