Preprint Announcement

[shawnd@ee.ubc.ca]

** Please do not forward to other mailing lists **

The following preprint is available by ftp from the neuroprose archive
at archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:


  Continuous-Time Temporal Back-Propagation with Adaptable Time Delays

                             Shawn P. Day
                         Michael R. Davenport

            Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physics
                     University of British Columbia
                        Vancouver, B.C., Canada

                               ABSTRACT

 We present a generalization of back-propagation for training multilayer
 feed-forward networks in which all connections have time delays as well 
 as weights. The technique assumes that the network inputs and outputs 
 are continuous time-varying multidimensional signals.  Both the weights 
 and the time delays adapt using gradient descent, either in ``epochs'' 
 where they change after each presentation of a training signal, or 
 ``on-line'', where they change continuously. Adaptable time delays allow 
 the network to discover simpler and more accurate mappings than can be 
 achieved with fixed delays. The resulting networks can be used for temporal 
 and spatio-temporal pattern recognition, signal prediction, and signal 
 production. We present simulation results for networks that were trained 
 on-line to predict future values of a chaotic signal using its present 
 value as an input.  For a chaotic signal generated by the Mackey-Glass
 differential-delay equation, networks with adaptable delays typically had 
 less than half the prediction error of networks with fixed delays.

Here's how to get the preprint from neuroprose:

    unix> ftp archive.cis.ohio-state.edu (or 128.146.8.52)
    Name: anonymous
    Password: neuron
    ftp> cd pub/neuroprose
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get day.temporal.ps.Z
    ftp> quit
    unix> uncompress day.temporal.ps.Z
    unix> lpr day.temporal.ps (or however you print postscript)

Any questions or comments can be addressed to me at:

    Shawn Day
    Department of Electrical Engineering
    2356 Main Mall
    University of British Columbia
    Vancouver, B.C., Canada 
    V6T 1Z4

    phone: (604) 264-0024
    email: shawnd at ee.ubc.ca