A Recurrent Probabilistic Neural Network for EMG Pattern Recognition

Abstract

In the field of pattern recognition, probabilistic neural networks (PNNs) have been proven as an important classifier. For pattern recognition of EMG signals, the characteristics usually used are: (1) amplitude, (2) frequency, and (3) space. However, significant temporal characteristic exists in the transient and non-stationary EMG signals, which cannot be considered by traditional PNNs. In this article, a recurrent PNN, called recurrent log-linearized Gaussian mixture network (R-LLGMN), is introduced for EMG pattern recognition, with the emphasis on utilizing temporal characteristics. The structure of R-LLGMN is based on the algorithm of a hidden Markov model (HMM), which is a routinely used technique for modeling stochastic time series. Since R-LLGMN inherits advantages from both HMM and neural computation, it is expected to have higher representation ability and show better performance when dealing with time series like EMG signals. Experimental results show that R-LLGMN can achieve high discriminant accuracy in EMG pattern recognition.