Genetic algorithm approach to design of multi-layer perceptron for combined cycle power plant electrical power output estimation

Abstract

In this paper a genetic algorithm (GA) approach to design of multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for combined cycle power plant power output estimation is presented. Dataset used in this research is a part of publicly available UCI Machine Learning Repository and it consists of 9568 data points (power plant operating regimes) that is divided on training dataset that consists of 7500 data points and testing dataset containing 2068 data points. Presented research was performed with aim of increasing regression performances of MLP in comparison to ones available in the literature by utilizing heuristic algorithm. The GA described in this paper is performed by using mutation and crossover procedures. These procedures are utilized for design of 20 different chromosomes in 50 different generations. MLP configurations that are designed with GA implementation are validated by using Bland - Altman (B-A) analysis. By utilizing GA, MLP with five hidden layers of 80,25,65,75 and 80 nodes, respectively, is designed. For aforementioned MLP, k - fold cross-validation is performed in order to examine its generalization performances. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value achieved with aforementioned MLP is 4.305, that is significantly lower in comparison with MLP presented in available literature, but still higher than several complex algorithms such as KStar and tree based algorithms.