Multiclass Fuzzily Weighted Adaptive-Boosting-Based Self-Organizing Fuzzy Inference Ensemble Systems for Classification

Adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) is a widely used technique to construct a stronger ensemble classifier by combining a set of weaker ones. Zero-order fuzzy inference systems (FISs) are very powerful prototype-based predictive models for classification, offering both great prediction precision and high user interpretability. However, the use of zero-order FISs as base classifiers in AdaBoost has not been explored yet. To bridge the gap, in this article, a novel multiclass fuzzily weighted AdaBoost (FWAdaBoost)-based ensemble system with a self-organizing fuzzy inference system (SOFIS) as the ensemble component is proposed. To better incorporate the SOFIS, FWAdaBoost utilizes the confidence scores produced by the SOFIS in both sample weight updating and ensemble output generation, resulting in more accurate classification boundaries and greater prediction precision. Numerical examples on a wide range of benchmark classification problems demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.