A Hierarchical Approach to Interpretability of TS Rule-Based Models

Interpretability of fuzzy rule-based models has always been of significant interest to the research community and the research in this area led to a number of far-reaching results. In this study, we briefly revisit the methodology and concepts of interpretability of Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) rule-based models and develop a conceptual framework involving several levels at which rules are interpreted. The layers at which interpretability is positioned are structured hierarchically by starting with the initial fuzzy set level (originating from the design of the rules), moving to information granules of finite support (where interval calculus is engaged) and finally ending up with symbols built at the higher level. As T-S rule-based models are endowed with local functions forming the conclusion parts of the rules, with the use of the principle of justifiable granularity, we develop a way of forming an interpretable conclusion in the form of information granule. To facilitate interpretability of conditions of the rules, multidimensional fuzzy sets (coming as a result of clustering) are decomposed into a Cartesian product of 1-D fuzzy sets and the quality of the resulting decomposition is evaluated. The quality of granular rules is assessed by analyzing the relationship between specificity of condition and conclusion information granules. The rules emerging at the level of symbols are further interpreted by engaging linguistic approximation, which helps approximate a collection of linguistic terms of subconditions producing a linguistic summarization in the form
τ
(inputs are
A
) consisting of a certain linguistic quantifier
τ
. The performance of summarization is provided in the form of ranking of the relevance of the rules. Experimental studies using publicly available data are completed and analyzed.