Artificial neural networks for pattern recognition

This tutorial article deals with the basics of artificial neural networks (ANN) and their applications in pattern recognition. ANN can be viewed as computing models inspired by the structure and function of the biological neural network. These models are expected to deal with problem solving in a manner different from conventional computing. A distinction is made between pattern and data to emphasize the need for developing pattern processing systems to address pattern recognition tasks. After introducing the basic principles of ANN, some fundamental networks are examined in detail for their ability to solve simple pattern recognition tasks. These fundamental networks together with the principles of ANN will lead to the development of architectures for complex pattern recognition tasks. A few popular architectures are described to illustrate the need to develop an architecture specific to a given pattern recognition problem. Finally several issues that still need to be addressed to solve practical problems using ANN approach are discussed. This paper is mostly a consolidation of work reported by several researchers in the literature, some of which is cited in the references. The author has borrowed several ideas and illustrations from the references quoted in this paper.