A technique for the selection of kernel-function parameters in RBF neural networks for classification of remote-sensing images

A supervised technique for training radial basis function (RBF) neural network classifiers is proposed. Such a technique, unlike traditional ones, considers the class memberships of training samples to select the centers and widths of the kernel functions associated with the hidden neurons of an RBF network. The result is twofold: a significant reduction in the overall classification error made by the classifier and a more stable behavior of the classification error versus variations in both the number of hidden units and the initial parameters of the training process.