libperceptronnetwork - lightweight neural network library

This page covers a lightweight yet functional library to simulate, train and test neural networks. The type of neural networks are known as multilayer feedforward perceptron networks. Although this type of neural network is mathematically limited in its capabilities, it provides a solid foundation a large number of common categorization and recognition tasks can be solved with.

The library was developed for an university project dealing with the recognition of spoken vowels. It proved to be reliable, yielding a successful detection rate of around 96 percent.

Features and examples

The library provides the following features:

Example: Approximation of the sin function


As the neural network type used in the library has the ability to approximate a large number of functions (any smooth function actually), we can train a network to behave like the sinus function. The training is done by showing the network 100 correct valuepairs of (x, sin(x)). x is spread equal over the range (-3.14 to 3.14). After the training phase, the network should be able to closely reproduce the results of the canoncial sinus function. This example is produced by the libtest.cpp example program that can be found in the library sources. The configuration used is 1:5:5:1.

image of two graphs: the sin function and the approximate
As you can see, the neural network (red dots) is quite close to the correct sinus function (shown in green). In principle, this learning method could be used to emulate arbitrary functions, exposing the network to a function a lot of times using correct pairs (training). However, this is just a very simple example of what a neural network of this type is able to do.

Example: Classification of functions


Another small example that shows the classification of three type of functions (sin, cos and abs) is available through the file libtest-classify.cpp in the source).

Example: Visualization of a neural network


The library provides the ability to write a neural network graph visualization file in the DOT language, from which pretty graph displays can be created, such as the one below, displaying a 1:3:2 network. Each box represents one neuron. The legend is shown in yellow.

neural network visualization generated with graphviz

Source

The source is available:
2003/03/02 libperceptronnetwork-1.0 .tar.bz2 (56 kb), .tar.gz (72 kb)

It should compile on any Unix environment that has a proper make (such as GNU make) and C++ compiler (such as g++ 2.95 or later). The library makes use of the C++ standard template library (STL), make sure its installed, too.

Documentation

The source is annotated using the wonderful Doxygen annotation system, which provides an automatically generated programmers reference. The documentation can be generated from the source by typing:
doxygen config-doxygen
from the root directory.

The current HTML documentation is also available online. For german speaking users an additional documentation and introduction into neural networks is available in german through the YAVA project page (direct: pdf (215kb), ps.gz (165kb)).

License

The entire library is released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. To comply with this license, you must give prominent notice that you use the library, and that it is included under the terms of the LGPL license. You must include a copy of the LGPL license. You must also do one of the following:
  1. Include the source code for the version of the library that you link with, as well as the full source or object code to your application so that the user can relink your application,
    or
  2. Include a written offer, valid for at least three years, to provide the materials listed in option 1, charging no more than the cost of providing this distribution,
    or
  3. Make the materials listed in option 1 available from the same place that your application is available.
The most common way to comply with the license is to dynamically link with the library, and then include the library source code and appropriate notices with your application.

As the library was developed under the course of an university project, it may be the case that the university implicitly has an additional license. (I doubt they will use the library though ;-).

Contact


If you have any trouble getting the library or the examples to work, please contact me at nowozin@cs.tu-berlin.de.


last update: Sun, 02 Mar 2003