Genetic algorithms to select optimal neural network topology

The choice of the optimal topology for a multilayer perceptron neural network is considered by using genetic algorithms (GAs). The proposed strategy is intended both to select the number of neurons in a structure with one hidden layer and to choose the number of layers into which a fixed number of neurons should be optimally arranged to solve a given problem. The proposed GA has shown its suitability in determining efficiently the optimal topology of a neural network. The procedure is not time consuming and is able to easily take into account all the constrains eventually included in the problem