Fuzzification & Defuzzification
Fuzzification & Defuzzification
Fuzzification & Defuzzification
It is one thing to compute, to reason, and to model with fuzzy information; it is another to apply the fuzzy results to the world around us. Despite the fact that the bulk of the information we assimilate every day is fuzzy, most of the actions or decisions implemented by humans or machines are crisp or binary.
(The decisions we make that require an action are binary, the hardware we use is binary, and certainly the computers we use are based on binary digital instructions.)
The bulk of this textbook illustrates procedures to fuzzify the mathematical and engineering principles we have so long considered to be deterministic. But in various applications and engineering scenarios there will be a need to defuzzify the fuzzy results.
(In other words, we may eventually find a need to convert the fuzzy results to crisp results.)
Mathematically, the defuzzification of a fuzzy set is the process of rounding it off from its location in the unit hypercube to the nearest (in a geometric sense) vertex
this definition of convexity is different from some definitions of the same term in mathematics. In some areas of mathematics, convexity of shape has to do with whether a straight line through any part of the shape goes outside the boundaries of that shape. This definition of convexity is not used here.
If the hgt(A) < 1, the fuzzy set is said to be subnormal. If A is a convex single-point normal fuzzy set defined on the real line, then A is often termed a fuzzy number.
VARIOUS FORMS
Membership functions can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. They are typically defined on one-dimensional universes, or on multidimensional universes. For example, the membership functions shown in this chapter are one-dimensional curves. In two dimensions these curves become surfaces and for three or more dimensions these surfaces become hypersurfaces.
VARIOUS FORMS
ordinary membership functions. (require that each element of the universe x on which the fuzzy set is defined be assigned a specific membership value, ) generalized membership functions. interval-valued membership function (Suppose the level of information is not adequate to specify membership functions with this precision. For example, we may only know the upper and lower bounds of membership grades for each element of the universe for a fuzzy set. such as the one shown in Fig. 4.5.)
In this figure, for a particular element, x = z, the membership in a fuzzy set A, i.e., A(z), would be expressed by the membership interval [1, 2].
VARIOUS FORMS
Interval-valued fuzzy sets can be generalized further by allowing their intervals to become fuzzy. Each membership interval then becomes an ordinary fuzzy set. This type of membership function is referred to in the literature as a type-2 fuzzy set.
FUZZIFICATION
Fuzzification is the process of making a crisp quantity fuzzy. In the real world, hardware such as a digital voltmeter generates crisp data, but these data are subject to experimental error.
The representation of imprecise data as fuzzy sets is a useful but not mandatory step when those data are used in fuzzy systems. This idea is shown in Fig. 4.7, where we consider the data as a crisp reading, Fig. 4.7a, or as a fuzzy reading, as shown in Fig. 4.7b.
Defuzzification to scalars
Defuzzification is the conversion of a fuzzy quantity to a precise quantity, just as fuzzification is the conversion of a precise quantity to a fuzzy quantity. The output of a fuzzy process can be the logical union of two or more fuzzy membership functions defined on the universe of discourse of the output variable.
We now want to aggregate these three survey results to find the single most nearly representative right-of-way width (z) to allow the railroad to make its initial estimate of the right-ofway purchasing cost. Using Eqs. (4.5)(4.7) and the preceding three fuzzy sets, we want to find z.
According to the mean max membership method, Eq. (4.7), z is given by (6 + 7)/2 = 6.5 meters.
where the symbol z is the distance to the centroid of each of the respective membership functions.
whereCm is the convex subregion that has the largest area making up Ck
Hence, the methods presented in Eqs. (4.4) (max or height), (4.7) (mean max), (4.11) (first max), and (4.12) (last max) all provide the same defuzzified value, z, for the particular situation illustrated in Fig. 4.30.
SUMMARY
Of the seven defuzzification methods presented, which is the best? it is context- or problem-dependent.
SUMMARY
five criteria: 1)continuity.
A small change in the input of a fuzzy process should not produce a large change in the output.
2) Disambiguity
a defuzzification method should always result in a unique value for z, i.e., no ambiguity in the defuzzified value.
3) plausibility.
To be plausible, z should lie approximately in the middle of the support region of and have a high degree of membership in
SUMMARY
five criteria: 4) computational simplicity,
the more time consuming a method is, the less value it should have in a computation system.
5) weighting method.
which weights the output fuzzy sets. The problem with the fifth criterion is that it is problem-dependent, as there is little by which to judge the best weighting method; the weighted average method involves less computation than the center of sums, but that attribute falls under the fourth criterion, computational simplicity.