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backpropagation
Each neuron is composed of two units. First unit adds products of weights coefficients
and input signals. The second unit realise nonlinear function, called neuron activation
function. Signal e is adder output signal, and y = f(e) is output signal of nonlinear
element. Signal y is also output signal of neuron.
To teach the neural network we need training data set. The training data set consists of
input signals (x1 and x2 ) assigned with corresponding target (desired output) z. The
network training is an iterative process. In each iteration weights coefficients of nodes
are modified using new data from training data set. Modification is calculated using
algorithm described below: Each teaching step starts with forcing both input signals from
training set. After this stage we can determine output signals values for each neuron in
each network layer. Pictures below illustrate how signal is propagating through the
network, Symbols w(xm)n represent weights of connections between network input xm and
neuron n in input layer. Symbols yn represents output signal of neuron n.
Propagation of signals through the hidden layer. Symbols wmn represent weights of
connections between output of neuron m and input of neuron n in the next layer.
Propagation of signals through the output layer.
In the next algorithm step the output signal of the network y is compared with the desired
output value (the target), which is found in training data set. The difference is called error
signal δ of output layer neuron.
It is impossible to compute error signal for internal neurons directly, because output
values of these neurons are unknown. For many years the effective method for training
multiplayer networks has been unknown. Only in the middle eighties the
backpropagation algorithm has been worked out. The idea is to propagate error signal δ
(computed in single teaching step) back to all neurons, which output signals were input
for discussed neuron.
The weights' coefficients wmn used to propagate errors back are equal to this used during
computing output value. Only the direction of data flow is changed (signals are
propagated from output to inputs one after the other). This technique is used for all
network layers. If propagated errors came from few neurons they are added. The
illustration is below:
When the error signal for each neuron is computed, the weights coefficients of each
neuron input node may be modified. In formulas below df(e)/de represents derivative of
neuron activation function (which weights are modified).
Coefficient η affects network teaching speed. There are a few techniques to select this
parameter. The first method is to start teaching process with large value of the parameter.
While weights coefficients are being established the parameter is being decreased
gradually. The second, more complicated, method starts teaching with small parameter
value. During the teaching process the parameter is being increased when the teaching is
advanced and then decreased again in the final stage. Starting teaching process with low
parameter value enables to determine weights coefficients signs.
References
Ryszard Tadeusiewcz "Sieci neuronowe", Kraków 1992
Mariusz Bernacki
Przemysław Włodarczyk
mgr inż. Adam Gołda (2005)
Katedra Elektroniki AGH
Last modified: 06.09.2004
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Error Backpropagation
We have already seen how to train linear networks by gradient descent. In trying to do the same
for multi-layer networks we encounter a difficulty: we don't have any target values for the hidden
units. This seems to be an insurmountable problem - how could we tell the hidden units just what
to do? This unsolved question was in fact the reason why neural networks fell out of favor after
an initial period of high popularity in the 1950s. It took 30 years before the error
backpropagation (or in short: backprop) algorithm popularized a way to train hidden units,
leading to a new wave of neural network research and applications.
(Fig. 1)
In principle, backprop provides a way to train networks with any number of hidden units
arranged in any number of layers. (There are clear practical limits, which we will discuss later.)
In fact, the network does not have to be organized in layers - any pattern of connectivity that
permits a partial ordering of the nodes from input to output is allowed. In other words, there
must be a way to order the units such that all connections go from "earlier" (closer to the input)
to "later" ones (closer to the output). This is equivalent to stating that their connection pattern
must not contain any cycles. Networks that respect this constraint are called feedforward
networks; their connection pattern forms a directed acyclic graph or dag.
The Algorithm
We want to train a multi-layer feedforward network by gradient descent to
approximate an unknown function, based on some training data consisting of pairs
(x,t). The vector x represents a pattern of input to the network, and the vector t the
corresponding target (desired output). As we have seen before, the overall
gradient with respect to the entire training set is just the sum of the gradients for
each pattern; in what follows we will therefore describe how to compute the
gradient for just a single training pattern. As before, we will number the units, and
denote the weight from unit j to unit i by wij.
1. Definitions:
To compute this gradient, we thus need to know the activity and the error for all relevant
nodes in the network.
Of the three factors inside the sum, the first is just the error of node i. The second is
For hidden units h that use the tanh activation function, we can make use of the special
identity
tanh(u)' = 1 - tanh(u)2, giving us
Matrix Form
For layered feedforward networks that are fully connected - that is, each node in a
given layer connects to every node in the next layer - it is often more convenient to
write the backprop algorithm in matrix notation rather than using more general
graph form given above. In this notation, the biases weights, net inputs, activations,
and error signals for all units in a layer are combined into vectors, while all the non-
bias weights from one layer to the next form a matrix W. Layers are numbered from
0 (the input layer) to L (the output layer). The backprop algorithm then looks as
follows: