Improved decision tree construction based on attribute selection and data sampling for fault diagnosis in rotating machines

This paper presents a new approach that avoids the over-fitting and complexity problems suffered in the construction of decision trees. Decision trees are an efficient means of building classification models, especially in industrial engineering. In their construction phase, the two main problems are choosing suitable attributes and database components. In the present work, a combination of attribute selection and data sampling is used to overcome these problems. To validate the proposed approach, several experiments are performed on 10 benchmark datasets, and the results are compared with those from classical approaches. Finally, we present an efficient application of the proposed approach in the construction of non-complex decision rules for fault diagnosis problems in rotating machines.