Wavelet neural network approach applied to biomechanics of swimming

An artificial neural network (ANN) consists of a number of interconnecting artificial neurons and employs mathematical or computational models for information processing. ANNs are suitable for handling large amounts of dynamic, noisy and nonlinear data. On the other hand, the wavelet theory provides a multi-resolution approximation for discriminate functions. The combination of the wavelet transforms theory with the basic concept of ANNs leads to new mapping networks called wavelet neural networks (WNNs) or wavenets, which are proposed as an alternative to feedforward ANNs for approximating arbitrary nonlinear functions. Generalized from radial basis function ANNs, WNNs are in fact feed-forward neural networks with one hidden layer, radial wavelets as activation functions in the hidden nodes and a linear output layer. The contribution of this paper is to evaluate the WNNs to model a parathlete swimmer behavior. The parathlete swimmer swims the breaststroke style using biomechanics data generated by the software tool called SWUMSUIT, which was developed in Tokyo Technological Institute in Japan. The forecasted results clearly show that WNN has good prediction properties. The proposed WNN modeling approach can benefit disabled swimmers (parathletes) to gain competitive advantage by studying the biomechanics involved in the sport and considering the help of simulations systems.