Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Neural Lab

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Neural Lab is a free neural network simulator that designs and trains artificial neural networks for use in engineering, business, computer science and technology. It integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio using C (Win32 - Wintempla) to incorporate artificial neural networks into custom applications, research simulations or end user interfaces.

Contents

It provides a visual environment to design and test artificial neural networks.

The latest Neural Lab version is 4.1. The two major versions are version 3.1 and 4.0.

Version 3.x

Version 3.1 is navigated using a standard computer mouse. Version 3.1 is considered easier to use, however, it is difficult to perform complex tasks programmatically. Version 3.1 is therefore primarily useful for people without a programming background.

The version 3.1 tutorial provided very little theoretical background on artificial neural networks. Despite the number of examples, most of the examples focus only on multi-layer networks with supervised training.

Version 4.x

In version 4.0, it is possible to perform neural network operations by writing code. The code is very similar to C/C++, Java or C#.

In version 4.0, the authors incorporate background information on artificial neural networks.


Version 4.0 incorporates Kohonen networks that can be trained without supervision and probabilistic neural networks.

Features

  • The tools allow reviewing and analyzing the structure of the training set.
  • The activation of the neurons for each case in the data set are visible. The tutorial provides examples in prediction, data mapping, data classification and autoassociative memory problems.
  • Once a network has been trained, it is possible to save it to a file. The file can be opened using Microsoft Visual Studio to create a standalone application that can employ the network.

    • Applications

    Specific examples of neural networks include:

  • Prediction
  • Mapping
  • Auto Association
  • Classification
  • Network Simulation

    • Wintempla

    Neural Lab is developed using Wintempla (a plug in that works with Microsoft Visual Studio). Wintempla encapsulates Win32 and simplifies the development of Microsoft Windows applications using C++ and native Win32 APIs.

    Wintempla is a tool that integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio. Wintempla encapsulates Win32 to simplify the creation of Web and Desktop applications using C++ and object-oriented programming. The programmer has the option to use the native Win32 APIs or the Wintempla classes.

    Wintempla includes:

    File extensions

  • .lab Neural Lab code (a UNICODE text file)
  • .lay A multi-layer neural network file
  • .lax A complex-domain multi-layer neural network file
  • .koh A Kohonen neural network file
  • .prb A probabilistic neural network file
  • .csv A comma separated data file

    • References

    Neural Lab Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA