Weight Initialization of Feedforward Neural Networks by Means of Partial Least Squares

A method to set the weight initialization and the optimal number of hidden nodes of feedforward neural networks (FNN) based on the partial least squares (PLS) algorithm is developed. The combination of PLS and FNN method ensures that the outputs of neurons are in the active region and increases the rate of convergence. The performance of the FNN, PLS, and PLS-FNN are compared according to an example of customer satisfaction measurement with unknown relationship between the input and output data. The results show that the hybrid PLS-FNN has the smallest root mean square error and the highest imitating precision. It substantially provides the good initial weights, improves the training performance and efficiently achieves an optimal solution