A Brief Overview of Recurrent Neural

Networks (RNN)
Apple’s Siri and Google’s voice search both use Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs),
which are the state-of-the-art method for sequential data. It’s the first algorithm with
an internal memory that remembers its input, making it perfect for problems involving
sequential data in machine learning. It’s one of the algorithms responsible for the
incredible advances in deep learning over the last few years. In this article, we’ll go
over the fundamentals of recurrent neural networks, as well as the most pressing
difficulties and how to address them.

Introduction on Recurrent Neural Networks

A Deep Learning approach for modelling sequential data is Recurrent Neural

Recurrent Neural Networks use the same weights for each element of the sequence,
decreasing the number of parameters and allowing the model to generalize to
sequences of varying lengths. RNNs generalize to structured data other than
sequential data, such as geographical or graphical data, because of its design.

Recurrent neural networks, like many other deep learning techniques, are relatively
old. They were first developed in the 1980s, but we didn’t appreciate their full
potential until lately. The advent of long short-term memory (LSTM) in the 1990s,
combined with an increase in computational power and the vast amounts of data that
we now have to deal with, has really pushed RNNs to the forefront.

What is a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)?

Neural networks imitate the function of the human brain in the fields of AI, machine
learning, and deep learning, allowing computer programs to recognize patterns and
solve common issues.
RNNs are a type of neural network that can be used to model sequence data. RNNs,
which are formed from feedforward networks, are similar to human brains in their
behaviour. Simply said, recurrent neural networks can anticipate sequential data in a
way that other algorithms can’t.

All of the inputs and outputs in standard neural networks are independent of one
another, however in some circumstances, such as when predicting the next word of
a phrase, the prior words are necessary, and so the previous words must be
remembered. As a result, RNN was created, which used a Hidden Layer to
overcome the problem. The most important component of RNN is the Hidden state,
which remembers specific information about a sequence.

RNNs have a Memory that stores all information about the calculations. It employs
the same settings for each input since it produces the same outcome by performing
the same task on all inputs or hidden layers.

The Architecture of a Traditional RNN

RNNs are a type of neural network that has hidden states and allows past outputs to
be used as inputs. They usually go like this:
RNN architecture can vary depending on the problem you’re trying to solve. From those with
a single input and output to those with many (with variations between).

Below are some examples of RNN architectures that can help you better understand this.

●​ One To One: There is only one pair here. A one-to-one architecture is used in traditional
neural networks.
●​ One To Many: A single input in a one-to-many network might result in numerous outputs.
One too many networks are used in the production of music, for example.
●​ Many To One: In this scenario, a single output is produced by combining many inputs from
distinct time steps. Sentiment analysis and emotion identification use such networks, in
which the class label is determined by a sequence of words.
●​ Many To Many: For many to many, there are numerous options. Two inputs yield three
outputs. Machine translation systems, such as English to French or vice versa translation
systems, use many to many networks.

How does Recurrent Neural Networks work?

The information in recurrent neural networks cycles through a loop to the middle hidden
layer.
The input layer x receives and processes the neural network’s input before passing it on to the
middle layer.

Multiple hidden layers can be found in the middle layer h, each with its own activation
functions, weights, and biases. You can utilize a recurrent neural network if the various
parameters of different hidden layers are not impacted by the preceding layer, i.e. There is no
memory in the neural network.

The different activation functions, weights, and biases will be standardized by the Recurrent
Neural Network, ensuring that each hidden layer has the same characteristics. Rather than
constructing numerous hidden layers, it will create only one and loop over it as many times as
necessary.

Common Activation Functions

A neuron’s activation function dictates whether it should be turned on or off. Nonlinear

The following are some of the most commonly utilized functions:

●​ Sigmoid: The formula g(z) = 1/(1 + e^-z) is used to express this.

●​ Tanh: The formula g(z) = (e^-z – e^-z)/(e^-z + e^-z) is used to express this.
 ●​ Relu: The formula g(z) = max(0 , z) is used to express this.

Advantages and disadvantages of RNN

Advantages of RNNs:

●​ Handle sequential data effectively, including text, speech, and time series.

●​ Process inputs of any length, unlike feedforward neural networks.

●​ Share weights across time steps, enhancing training efficiency.

Disadvantages of RNNs:

●​ Prone to vanishing and exploding gradient problems, hindering learning.

●​ Training can be challenging, especially for long sequences.

●​ Computationally slower than other neural network architectures.

Recurrent Neural Network Vs Feedforward Neural Network

A feed-forward neural network has only one route of information flow: from the input layer
to the output layer, passing through the hidden layers. The data flows across the network in a
straight route, never going through the same node twice.

The information flow between an RNN and a feed-forward neural network is depicted in the
two figures below.

Feed-forward neural networks are poor predictions of what will happen next because they
have no memory of the information they receive. Because it simply analyses the current
input, a feed-forward network has no idea of temporal order. Apart from its training, it has no
memory of what transpired in the past.

The information is in an RNN cycle via a loop. Before making a judgment, it evaluates the
current input as well as what it has learned from past inputs. A recurrent neural network, on
the other hand, may recall due to internal memory. It produces output, copies it, and then
returns it to the network.

Backpropagation Through Time (BPTT)

When we apply a Backpropagation algorithm to a Recurrent Neural Network with time series
data as its input, we call it backpropagation through time.

A single input is sent into the network at a time in a normal RNN, and a single output is
obtained. Backpropagation, on the other hand, uses both the current and prior inputs as input.
This is referred to as a timestep, and one timestep will consist of multiple time series data
points entering the RNN at the same time.

The output of the neural network is used to calculate and collect the errors once it has trained
on a time set and given you an output. The network is then rolled back up, and weights are
recalculated and adjusted to account for the faults.

Two issues of Standard RNNs

There are two key challenges that RNNs have had to overcome, but in order to comprehend
them, one must first grasp what a gradient is.
With regard to its inputs, a gradient is a partial derivative. If you’re not sure what that
implies, consider this: a gradient quantifies how much the output of a function varies when
the inputs are changed slightly.

A function’s slope is also known as its gradient. The steeper the slope, the faster a model can
learn, the higher the gradient. The model, on the other hand, will stop learning if the slope is
zero. A gradient is used to measure the change in all weights in relation to the change in error.

●​ Exploding Gradients: Exploding gradients occur when the algorithm gives the weights an
absurdly high priority for no apparent reason. Fortunately, truncating or squashing the
gradients is a simple solution to this problem.
●​ Vanishing Gradients: Vanishing gradients occur when the gradient values are too small,
causing the model to stop learning or take far too long. This was a big issue in the 1990s, and
it was far more difficult to address than the exploding gradients. Fortunately, Sepp
Hochreiter and Juergen Schmidhuber’s LSTM concept solved the problem.

RNN Applications

Recurrent Neural Networks are used to tackle a variety of problems involving sequence data.
There are many different types of sequence data, but the following are the most common:
Audio, Text, Video, Biological sequences.

Using RNN models and sequence datasets, you may tackle a variety of problems, including :

●​ Speech recognition

●​ Generation of music

●​ Automated Translations

●​ Analysis of video action