Self-Adaptive PCNN Based on Maximum Entropy and its Application in Handwritten Digit Recognition

This paper mainly studies the self-adaptation of Pulse Coupled Neural Network (PCNN) and the application in handwritten digit recognition. First, the edge extraction algorithm of image using PCNN and maximum entropy is proposed, the parameters' optimization of PCNN is realized by Simple Genetic Algorithm. Then, the foveation algorithm based on PCNN is used to extract the feature points of handwritten digits. Finally, a BP neural network with two hidden layers is used to recognize the images of handwritten digits which have been preprocessed. Experimental results on handwritten digit recognition demonstrated that the proposed method reached good performance on feature extraction and the recognition has better accuracy compared with the original method using BP neural network directly.