Discriminant Non-stationary Signal Features' Clustering Using Hard and Fuzzy Cluster Labeling

Current approaches to improve the pattern recognition performance mainly focus on either extracting non-stationary and discriminant features of each class, or employing complex and nonlinear feature classifiers. However, little attention has been paid to the integration of these two approaches. Combining non-stationary feature analysis with complex feature classifiers, this article presents a novel direction to enhance the discriminatory power of pattern recognition methods. This approach, which is based on a fusion of non-stationary feature analysis with clustering techniques, proposes an algorithm to adaptively identify the feature vectors according to their importance in representing the patterns of discrimination. Non-stationary feature vectors are extracted using a non-stationary method based on time–frequency distribution and non-negative matrix factorization. The clustering algorithms including the K-means and self-organizing tree maps are utilized as unsupervised clustering methods followed by a supervised labeling. Two labeling methods are introduced: hard and fuzzy labeling. The article covers in detail the formulation of the proposed discriminant feature clustering method. Experiments performed with pathological speech classification, T-wave alternans evaluation from the surface electrocardiogram, audio scene analysis, and telemonitoring of Parkinson’s disease problems produced desirable results. The outcome demonstrates the benefits of non-stationary feature fusion with clustering methods for complex data analysis where existing approaches do not exhibit a high performance.