4.

1 Fuzzy inference systems (Mamdani)

An example of a Mamdani inference system is shown in Figure 4-1. To compute
the output of this FIS given the inputs, one must go through six steps:
1. determining a set of fuzzy rules
2. fuzzifying the inputs using the input membership functions,
3. combining the fuzzified inputs according to the fuzzy rules to establish a rule
strength,
4. finding the consequence of the rule by combining the rule strength and the
output membership function,
5. combining the consequences to get an output distribution, and
6. defuzzifying the output distribution (this step is only if a crisp output (class) is
needed).
The following is a more detailed description of this process.

Figure 4-1: A two input, two rule Mamdani FIS with crisp inputs
4.1.1 Creating fuzzy rules
Fuzzy rules are a collection of linguistic statements that describe how the FIS
should make a decision regarding classifying an input or controlling an output.
Fuzzy rules are always written in the following form:
if (input1 is membership function1) and/or (input2 is membership
function2) and/or . then (output
n
is output membership function
n
).
For example, one could make up a rule that says:
if temperature is high and humidity is high then room is hot.
There would have to be membership functions that define what we mean by high
temperature (input1), high humidity (input2) and a hot room (output1). This
process of taking an input such as temperature and processing it through a
membership function to determine what we mean by "high" temperature is called
fuzzification and is discussed in section 4.1.2. Also, we must define what we mean
by "and" / "or" in the fuzzy rule. This is called fuzzy combination and is discussed
in section 4.1.3.
4.1.2 Fuzzification
The purpose of fuzzification is to map the inputs from a set of sensors (or features
of those sensors such as amplitude or spectrum) to values from 0 to 1 using a set of
input membership functions. In the example shown in Figure 4-1, their are two
inputs, x
0
and y
0
shown at the lower left corner. These inputs are mapped into
fuzzy numbers by drawing a line up from the inputs to the input membership
functions above and marking the intersection point.
These input membership functions, as discussed previously, can represent fuzzy
concepts such as "large" or "small", "old" or "young", "hot" or "cold", etc. For
example, x
0
could be the EMG energy coming from the front of the forearm and
y
0
could be the EMG energy coming from the back of the forearm. The
membership functions could then represent "large" amounts of tension coming
from a muscle or "small" amounts of tension. When choosing the input
membership functions, the definition of what we mean by "large" and "small" may
be different for each input.
4.1.3 Fuzzy combinations (T-norms)
In making a fuzzy rule, we use the concept of "and", "or", and sometimes "not".
The sections below describe the most common definitions of these "fuzzy
combination" operators. Fuzzy combinations are also referred to as "T-norms".
4.1.3.1 Fuzzy "and"
The fuzzy "and" is written as:

where
A
is read as "the membership in class A" and
B
is read as "the membership
in class B". There are many ways to compute "and". The two most common are:
1. Zadeh - min(u
A
(x), u
B
(x)) This technique, named after the inventor of fuzzy set
theory simply computes the "and" by taking the minimum of the two (or more)
membership values. This is the most common definition of the fuzzy "and".
2. Product - u
a
(x) times u
b
(x)) This techniques computes the fuzzy "and" by
multiplying the two membership values.
Both techniques have the following two properties:
T(0,0) = T(a,0) = T(0,a) = 0
T(a,1) = T(1,a) = a
One of the nice things about both definitions is that they also can be used to
compute the Boolean "and". Table 1 shows the Boolean "and" operation. Notice
that both fuzzy "and" definitions also work for these numbers. The fuzzy "and" is
an extension of the Boolean "and" to numbers that are not just 0 or 1, but between
0 and 1.
Input1 (A) Input2 (B) Output (A "and" B)
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
Table 1: The Boolean "and"
4.1.3.2 Fuzzy "or"
The fuzzy "or" is written as:

Similar to the fuzzy "and", there are two techniques for computing the fuzzy "or":
1. Zadeh - max(u
A
(x), u
B
(x)) This technique computes the fuzzy "or" by taking the
maximum of the two (or more) membership values. This is the most common
method of computing the fuzzy "or".
2. Product - u
A
(x)+ u
B
(x) - u
A
(x) u
B
(x) This technique uses the difference between
the sum of the two (or more) membership values and the product of the
membership values.
Both techniques have the following properties:
T(a,0) = T(0,a) = a
T(a,1) = T(1,a) = 1
Similar to the fuzzy "and", both definitions of the fuzzy "or" also can be used to
compute the Boolean "or". Table 2 shows the Boolean "or" operation. Notice that
both fuzzy "or" definitions also work for these numbers. The fuzzy "or" is an
extension of the Boolean "or" to numbers that are not just 0 or 1, but between 0 and
1.
Input1 (A) Input2 (B) Output (A "or" B)
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
Table 2: The Boolean "or"
4.1.4 Consequence
The consequence of a fuzzy rule is computed using two steps:
1. Computing the rule strength by combining the fuzzified inputs using the fuzzy
combination process discussed in section 4.1.3. This is shown in Figure 4-1. Notice
in this example, the fuzzy "and" is used to combine the membership functions to
compute the rule strength.
2. Clipping the output membership function at the rule strength. Once again, refer
to Figure 4-1 to see how this is done for a two input, two rule Mamdani FIS.
4.1.5 Combining Outputs into an Output Distribution
The outputs of all of the fuzzy rules must now be combined to obtain one fuzzy
output distribution. This is usually, but not always, done by using the fuzzy
"or". Figure 4-1 shows an example of this. The output membership functions on
the right hand side of the figure are combined using the fuzzy "or" to obtain the
output distribution shown on the lower right corner of the figure.
4.1.6 Defuzzification of Output Distribution
In many instances, it is desired to come up with a single crisp output from a FIS.
For example, if one was trying to classify a letter drawn by hand on a drawing
tablet, ultimately the FIS would have to come up with a crisp number to tell the
computer which letter was drawn. This crisp number is obtained in a process
known as defuzzification. There are two common techniques for defuzzifying:
1. Center of mass - This technique takes the output distribution found in
section 4.1.5 and finds its center of mass to come up with one crisp number. This is
computed as follows:

where z is the center of mass and u
c
is the membership in class c at value z
j
. An
example outcome of this computation is shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2: Defuzzification Using the Center of Mass
2. Mean of maximum - This technique takes the output distribution found in
section 4.1.5 and finds its mean of maxima to come up with one crisp number. This
is computed as follows:

where z is the mean of maximum, z
j
is the point at which the membership function
is maximum, and l is the number of times the output distribution reaches the
maximum level. An example outcome of this computation is shown in Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3: Defuzzification Using the Mean of Maximum
4.1.7 Fuzzy Inputs
In summary, Figure 4-1 shows a two input Mamdani FIS with two rules. It
fuzzifies the two inputs by finding the intersection of the crisp input value with the
input membership function. It uses the minimum operator to compute the fuzzy
"and" for combining the two fuzzified inputs to obtain a rule strength. It clips the
output membership function at the rule strength. Finally, it uses the maximum
operator to compute the fuzzy "or" for combining the outputs of the two rules.
Figure 4-4 shows a modification of the Mamdani FIS where the input y
0
is fuzzy,
not crisp. This can be used to model inaccuracies in the measurement. For
example, we may be measuring the output of a pressure sensor. Even with the
exact same pressure applied, the sensor is measured to have slightly different
voltages. The fuzzy input membership function models this uncertainty. The input
fuzzy function is combined with the rule input membership function by using the
fuzzy "and" as shown inFigure 4-4.

Figure 4-4: A two Input, two rule Mamdani FIS with a fuzzy input