Immuno-Computing-based Neural Learning for Data Classification

The paper proposes two new algorithms based on the artificial immune system of the human body called Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA) and the modified version of Clonal Selection Algorithm (MCSA), and used them to train the neural network. Conventional Artificial Neural Network training algorithm such as backpropagation has the disadvantage that it can get trapped into the local optima. Consequently, the neural network is usually incapable of obtaining the best solution to the given problem. In the proposed new CSA algorithm, the initial random weights chosen for the neural networks are considered as a foreign body called an antigen. As the human body creates several antibodies in response to fight the antigen, similarly, in CSA algorithm antibodies are created to fight the antigen. Each antibody is evaluated based on its affinity and clones are generated for each antibody. The number of clones depends on the algorithm, in CSA, the number of clones is fixed and in MCSA, number of clones is directly proportional to the affinity of the antibody. Mutation is performed on clones to improve the affinity. The best antibody emerged becomes the antigen for the next round and the process is repeated for several iterations until the best antibody that satisfies the chosen criterion is found. The best antibody is problem specific. For neural network training for data classification, the best antibody represents the set of weights and biases that gives the least error. The efficiency of the algorithm was analyzed using Iris dataset. The prediction accuracy of the algorithms were compared with other nature-inspired algorithms, such as Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and standard backpropagation. The performance of MCSA was ahead of other algorithms with an accuracy of 99.33%.