An online outlier detection method based on wavelet technique and robust RBF network

Abstract

We focus on the issue of outlier detection for time-series data in a process control system (PCS), since outlier detection is a critical step before performing data-based system analysis. Several published articles have proved that a wavelet transform (WT) technique can be used to detect outliers in time-series data, but the standard WT detection method, as well as any other univariate outlier detection technique, does not distinguish between the sudden change caused by the changes of inputs and the fluctuations caused by outliers in PCS. In order to improve this shortcoming of the conventional WT method for the data in a PCS, a new algorithm combining the wavelet technique with a robust radial basis function (RBF) network is proposed here. In this method, a robust RBF network (RBFN) training algorithm is proposed, which can train the RBFN online using the original data as a training set without the need of clean data and thus fits the application of online detection. Furthermore, a hidden Markov model is adopted as an analysis tool to accomplish online automatic detection without pre-selecting the threshold. We compare the performance of our proposed method with the conventional wavelet method and the AR model method to demonstrate its validity through simulation and experimental applications to the data pretreatment process in an electric arc furnace electrode regulator system.