Hidden control neural architecture modeling of nonlinear time varying systems and its applications

The application of neural networks to modeling time-invariant nonlinear systems has been difficult for complicated nonstationary signals, such as speech, because the networks are unable to characterize temporal variability. This problem is addressed by proposing a network architecture, called the hidden control neural network (HCNN), for modeling signals generated by nonlinear dynamical systems with restricted time variability. The mapping implemented by a multilayered neural network is allowed to change with time as a function of an additional control input signal. The network is trained using an algorithm based on ;backpropagation' and segmentation algorithms for estimating the unknown control together with the network's parameters. Application of the network to the segmentation and modeling of a signal produced by a time-varying nonlinear system, speaker-independent recognition of spoken connected digits, and online recognition of handwritten characters demonstrates the ability of the HCNN to learn time-varying nonlinear dynamics and its potential for high-performance recognition of signals produced by time-varying sources.