Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)

1-Definition (1): -
ANNs are nonlinear information (Signal)processing devices,
which are built from interconnected elementary processing
devices called neurons
2-Definition (2): -
An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an information-processing
paradigm that is inspired by the way biological nervous systems,
such as the brain, process information
3-ANNs are a type of artificial intelligence that attempts to
imitate the way a human brain works. Rather than using a
digital model, in which all computations manipulate zeros and
ones, a neural network works by creating connections between
processing elements, the computer equivalent of neurons. The
organization and weights of connections determine the output.
4-A neural network is a massively parallel-distributed processor
that has a natural propensity for storing experimental
knowledge and making it available for use. It resembles the
brain in two respects: -
1)Knowledge is acquired by the network through a learning
process
2)Inter-neuron connection strengths known as synaptic weights
are used to store the knowledge
5-Artificial Neural Networks thus is an information-processing
system. In this system, the elements called as neurons, process
the information. The signals are transmitted by means of
connection links. The links possess an associated weight, which is
multiplied along with the incoming signal (net input) for any
typical neural net. The output signal is obtained by applying
activations to the net input.
6-Configuration:-
ANN consist of many nodes, i.e. processing units analogous to
neurons in the brain. Each node has a node function, associated
with it which along with a set of local parameters determines
the output of a node, given an input. Modifying local parameters
may alter the node function.
The neural net can generally be a single layer or multilayer net.
The structure of the simple artificial neural net is shown in fig (1)

Fig (1)
Fig (1) shows a simple artificial neural net with two input
neurons (x1,x2) and one output neuron (y). The interconnected
weights are given by w1 and w2. In a single layer net there is a
single layer of weighted interconnections.
A typical multi-layer artificial neural network, abbreviated as
MNN, comprises an input layer, output layer and hidden
(intermediate) layer of neurons. Fig (2) shows a three-layer MNN
and fig (3) shoes its simplified block diagram

Fig (2)

Fig (3)
MNNs provide increase in computational power over a single-
layer neural network unless there is a nonlinear activation
function between layers. Many capabilities of neural networks,
such as nonlinear functional approximation, learning,
generalization, etc are in fact performed due to the nonlinear
activation function of each neuron.
7-What are the capabilities of Neural Networks?
In principle, NNs can compute any computable function, i.e.
they can do everything a normal digital computer can do.
Especially anything that can be represented as a mapping
between vector spaces can be approximated to arbitrary
precision by feedforward NNs (which is the often most used
type).
In practice, NNs are especially useful for mapping problems,
which are tolerant some eerors, hive lots of example data
available, but to which hard and fast rules cannot easily be
applied. However, NNs are, as of now, difficult to apply
successfully to problems that concern manipulation of symbols
and memory.
8-Artificail Neuron is characterized by:-
(a)Architecture (connection between neurons)
(b)Training or learning (determining weights on the
connection)
(c)Activation function
9-Figure (4) illustrates a simple artificial neural net and the input
and output layers of it

Fig (4)
10-Relationship between Artificial Neural Networks and
Biological System:-
(a)Biological Neuron:-
A nerve cell (neuron) is a special biological cell that processes
information. According to an estimation, there are huge number
of neurons, approximately 1011 with numerous interconnections,
approximately 1015.
Schematic Diagram:-

Fig (5)
Working of a Biological Neuron:-
As shown in the above diagram, a typical neuron consists of the
following four parts with the help of which we can explain its
working:
Dendrites: They are tree-like branches,
responsible for receiving the information from other
neurons it is connected to. In other sense, we can
say that they are like the ears of neuron.
Soma: It is the cell body of the neuron and is
responsible for processing of information, they have
received from dendrites.
Axon: It is just like a cable through which neurons
send the information.
Synapses: It is the connection between the axon
and other neuron dendrites.
(b) ANN versus BNN:-
Before taking a look at the differences between Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) and Biological Neural Network (BNN), let us take
a look at the similarities based on the terminology between
these two.

The following table shows the comparison between ANN and

BNN based on some criteria mentioned.
11-Applications of Neural Networks:-
(1)Aerospace
High performance aircraft autopilots, flight path simulations,
aircraft control systems, autopilot enhancements, aircraft
component simulations, aircraft component fault detectors
(2)Automotive
Automobile automatic guidance systems, fuel injector control,
automatic braking systems, misfire detection, virtual emission
sensors, warranty activity analyzers
(3)Banking
Check and other document readers, credit application
evaluators, cash forecasting, firm classification, exchange rate
forecasting, predicting loan recovery rates, measuring credit
risk
(4)Defense
Weapon steering, target tracking, object discrimination, facial
recognition, new kinds of sensors, sonar, radar and image
signal processing including data compression, feature
extraction and noise suppression, signal/image identification
(5)Electronics
Code sequence prediction, integrated circuit chip layout,
process control, chip failure analysis, machine vision, voice
synthesis, nonlinear modeling
(6)Entertainment
Animation, special effects, market forecasting
(7)Financial
Real estate appraisal, loan advisor, mortgage screening,
corporate bond rating, credit line use analysis, portfolio
trading program, corporate financial analysis, currency price
prediction
(8)Insurance
Policy application evaluation, product optimization
(9)Manufacturing
Manufacturing process control, product design and analysis,
process and machine diagnosis, real-time particle
identification, visual quality inspection systems, beer testing,
welding quality analysis, paper quality prediction, computer
chip quality analysis, analysis of grinding operations, chemical
product design analysis, machine maintenance analysis,
project bidding, planning and management, dynamic modeling
of chemical process systems