Copyright © 2008 F. Cadini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Artificial neural networks are powerful algorithms for constructing nonlinear empirical models from operational data. Their use is becoming increasingly popular in the complex modeling tasks required by diagnostic, safety, and control applications in complex technologies such as those employed in the nuclear industry. In this paper, the nonlinear modeling capabilities of an infinite impulse response multilayer perceptron (IIR-MLP) for nuclear dynamics are considered in comparison to static modeling by a finite impulse response multilayer perceptron (FIR-MLP) and a conventional static MLP. The comparison is made with respect to the nonlinear dynamics of a nuclear reactor as investigated by IIR-MLP in a previous paper. The superior performance of the locally recurrent scheme is demonstrated.