Transfer Learning of BCI Using CUR Algorithm

The brain computer interface (BCI) are used in many applications including medical, environment, education, economy, and social fields. In order to have a high performing BCI classification, the training set must contain variations of high quality subjects which are discriminative. Variations will also drive transferability of training data for generalization purposes. However, if the test subject is unique from the training set variations, BCI performance may suffer. Previously, this problem was solved by introducing transfer learning in the context of spatial filtering on small training set by creating high quality variations within training subjects. In this study however, it was discovered that transfer learning can also be used to compress the training data into an optimal compact size while improving training data performance. The transfer learning framework proposed was on motor imagery BCI-EEG using CUR matrix decomposition algorithm which decomposes data into two components; C and UR which is each subject’s EEG signal and common matrix derived from historical EEG data, respectively. The method is considered transfer learning process because it utilizes historical data as common matrix for the classification purposes. This framework is implemented in the BCI system along with Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) as features extractor and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) as classifier and this combination exhibits an increase of accuracy to up to 26% with 83% training database compression.

     

Improving EEG signal peak detection using feature weight learning of a neural network with random weights for eye event-related applications

The optimization of peak detection algorithms for electroencephalogram (EEG) signal analysis is an ongoing project; previously existing algorithms have been used with different models to detect EEG peaks in various applications. However, none of the existing techniques perform adequately in eye event-related applications. Therefore, we aimed to develop a general procedure for eye event-related applications based on feature weight learning (FWL), through the use of a neural network with random weights (NNRW) as the classifier. The FWL is performed using a particle swarm optimization algorithm, applied to the well-studied Dumpala, Acir, Liu and Dingle peak detection models, where the associated features are considered as inputs to the NNRW with and without FWL. The combination of all the associated features from the four models is also considered, as a comprehensive model for validation purposes. Real EEG data recorded from two channels of 20 healthy volunteers were used to perform the model simulations. The data set consisted of 40 peaks arising in the frontal eye field in association with a change of horizontal eye gaze direction. It was found that the NNRW in conjunction with FWL has better performance than NNRW alone for all four peak detection models, of which the Dingle model gave the highest performance, with 74% accuracy.     

Triple-Band Circularly Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) for Wireless Applications

This paper proposes a new dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) design that can generate circularly polarized (CP) triple-band signals. A triple-band CP DRA antenna fed by a probe feed system is achieved with metal strips structure on side of DRA structure. The design start with conventional rectangular DRA with F shaped metal strips on DRA structure alongside the feed. Then, the F metal strip is enhanced by extending the length of the metal strip to obtain wider impedance bandwidth. Further improvement on the antenna performance is observed by improvised the conventional DRA structure. The method of removing part of DRA bottom resulted to higher antenna gain with triple band CP. The primary features of the proposed DRA include wide impedance matching bandwidth (BW) and broadband circular polarization (CP). The primary features of the proposed DRA include wide impedance matching bandwidth (BW) and broadband circular polarization (CP). The CP BW values recorded by the proposed antenna were ∼ 11.27% (3.3–3.65 GHz), 12.18% (4.17–4.69 GHz), and 1.74% (6.44–6.55 GHz) for impedance-matching BW values of 35.4% (3.3–4.69 GHz), 1.74% (5.36–5.44 GHz), and 1.85% (6.41–6.55 GHz) with peak gains of 6.8 dBic, 7.6 dBic, and 8.5 dBic, respectively, in the lower, central, and upper bands. The prototype of the proposed antenna geometry was fabricated and measured. A good agreement was noted between the simulated and the measured results.     

Extreme learning machine for structured output spaces

Recently, extreme learning machine (ELM) has attracted increasing attention due to its successful applications in classification, regression, and ranking. Normally, the desired output of the learning system using these machine learning techniques is a simple scalar output. However, there are many applications in machine learning which require more complex output rather than a simple scalar one. Therefore, structured output is used for such applications where the system is trained to predict structured output instead of simple one. Previously, support vector machine (SVM) has been introduced for structured output learning in various applications. However, from machine learning point of view, ELM is known to offer better generalization performance compared to other learning techniques. In this study, we extend ELM to more generalized framework to handle complex outputs where simple outputs are considered as special cases of it. Besides the good generalization property of ELM, the resulting model will possesses rich internal structure that reflects task-specific relations and constraints. The experimental results show that structured ELM achieves similar (for binary problems) or better (for multi-class problems) generalization performance when compared to ELM. Moreover, as verified by the simulation results, structured ELM has comparable or better precision performance with structured SVM when tested for more complex output such as object localization problem on PASCAL VOC2006. Also, the investigation on parameter selections is presented and discussed for all problems.