Data description: A general framework of information granules

• DOI: 10.1016/j.knosys.2014.12.030
• Publication Date: 2015-01-23T22:26:09Z
• Authors: Witold Pedrycz; Giancarlo Succi; Alberto Sillitti; Joana Iljazi
• Keywords: Granularity; Granular Computing

The study is concerned with a granular data description in which we propose a characterization of numeric data by a collection of information granules so that the key structure of the data, their topology and essential relationships are described in the form of a family of fuzzy sets - information granules. A comprehensive design process is introduced in which we show a two-phase development strategy: first, numeric prototypes are built with the use of Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) that is followed by their augmentation resulting in a collection of information granules. In the design of information granules we engage the fundamental ideas of Granular Computing, especially the principle of justifiable granularity. A series of experiments is presented to visualize the key steps of the construction of information granules.