Fuzzy Interpolative Reasoning for Sparse Fuzzy-Rule-Based Systems Based on the Areas of Fuzzy Sets

Fuzzy interpolative reasoning is an inference technique for dealing with the sparse rules problem in sparse fuzzy-rule-based systems. In this paper, we present a new fuzzy interpolative reasoning method for sparse fuzzy-rule-based systems based on the areas of fuzzy sets. The proposed method uses the weighted average method to infer the fuzzy interpolative reasoning results and has the following advantages: (1) it holds the normality and the convexity of the fuzzy interpolative reasoning result, (2) it can deal with fuzzy interpolative reasoning with complicated membership functions, (3) it can deal with fuzzy interpolative reasoning when the fuzzy sets of the antecedents and the consequents of the fuzzy rules have different kinds of membership functions, (4) it can handle fuzzy interpolative reasoning with multiple antecedent variables, (5) it can handle fuzzy interpolative reasoning with multiple fuzzy rules, and (6) it can handle fuzzy interpolative reasoning with logically consistent properties with respect to the ratios of fuzziness. We use some examples to compare the fuzzy interpolative reasoning results of the proposed method with those of the existing fuzzy interpolative reasoning methods. In terms of the six evaluation indices, the experimental results show that the proposed method performs more reasonably than the existing methods. The proposed method provides us a useful way to deal with fuzzy interpolative reasoning in sparse fuzzy-rule-based systems.