Quiet in Class: Classification, Noise and the Dendritic Cell Algorithm

Theoretical analyses of the Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) have yielded several criticisms about its underlying structure and operation. As a result, several alterations and fixes have been suggested in the literature to correct for these findings. A contribution of this work is to investigate the effects of replacing the classification stage of the DCA (which is known to be flawed) with a traditional machine learning technique. This work goes on to question the merits of those unique properties of the DCA that are yet to be thoroughly analysed. If none of these properties can be found to have a benefit over traditional approaches, then "fixing" the DCA is arguably less efficient than simply creating a new algorithm. This work examines the dynamic filtering property of the DCA and questions the utility of this unique feature for the anomaly detection problem. It is found that this feature, while advantageous for noisy, time-ordered classification, is not as useful as a traditional static filter for processing a synthetic dataset. It is concluded that there are still unique features of the DCA left to investigate. Areas that may be of benefit to the Artificial Immune Systems community are suggested.

The Application of a Dendritic Cell Algorithm to a Robotic Classifier

The dendritic cell algorithm is an immune-inspired technique for processing time-dependant data. Here we propose it as a possible solution for a robotic classification problem. The dendritic cell algorithm is implemented on a real robot and an investigation is performed into the effects of varying the migration threshold median for the cell population. The algorithm performs well on a classification task with very little tuning. Ways of extending the implementation to allow it to be used as a classifier within the field of robotic security are suggested.

PCA 4 DCA: The Application Of Principal Component Analysis To The Dendritic Cell Algorithm

As one of the newest members in the field of artificial immune systems (AIS), the Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) is based on behavioural models of natural dendritic cells (DCs). Unlike other AIS, the DCA does not rely on training data, instead domain or expert knowledge is required to predetermine the mapping between input signals from a particular instance to the three categories used by the DCA. This data preprocessing phase has received the criticism of having manually over-?tted the data to the algorithm, which is undesirable. Therefore, in this paper we have attempted to ascertain if it is possible to use principal component analysis (PCA) techniques to automatically categorise input data while still generating useful and accurate classication results. The integrated system is tested with a biometrics dataset for the stress recognition of automobile drivers. The experimental results have shown the application of PCA to the DCA for the purpose of automated data preprocessing is successful.