From image processing to classification: II. Classification of electrophoretic patterns using self-organizing feature maps and feed-forward neural networks

In a recent study, isoelectric focusing patterns were classified with a neural network using the back-propagation algorithm [1]. In order to further study the classification process and to generalize the presentation of electrophoretic patterns, Kohonen's self-organizing feature maps [2] were applied in this study. Although these feature maps are very efficient in many pattern recognition tasks, our data proved to be too complex for classification with an unsupervised system. Therefore, a second supervised network on top of the feature map was necessary. As in [3], a feed-forward network trained by the back-propagation algorithm was used. The final system allows us to correctly classify 90% of all wheat varieties. Moreover, the system proved to be reliable, reasonable in training time and shows the same accuracy in different experimental setups.