An unsupervised learning algorithm for membrane computing

This paper focuses on the unsupervised learning problem within membrane computing, and proposes an innovative solution inspired by membrane computing techniques, the fuzzy membrane clustering algorithm. An evolution–communication P system with nested membrane structure is the core component of the algorithm. The feasible cluster centers are represented by means of objects, and three types of membranes are considered: evolution, local store, and global store. Based on the designed membrane structure and the inherent communication mechanism, a modified differential evolution mechanism is developed to evolve the objects in the system. Under the control of the evolution–communication mechanism of the P system, the proposed fuzzy clustering algorithm achieves good fuzzy partitioning for a data set. The proposed fuzzy clustering algorithm is compared to three recently-developed and two classical clustering algorithms for five artificial and five real-life data sets.