The further investigation of covering-based rough sets: Uncertainty characterization, similarity measure and generalized models

Abstract

The notion of rough sets was originally proposed by Pawlak. In Pawlak’s rough set theory, the equivalence relation or partition plays an important role. However, the equivalence relation or partition is restrictive for many applications because it can only deal with complete information systems. This limits the theory’s application to a certain extent. Therefore covering-based rough sets are derived by replacing the partitions of a universe with its coverings. This paper focuses on the further investigation of covering-based rough sets. Firstly, we discuss the uncertainty of covering in the covering approximation space, and show that it can be characterized by rough entropy and the granulation of covering. Secondly, since it is necessary to measure the similarity between covering rough sets in practical applications such as pattern recognition, image processing and fuzzy reasoning, we present an approach which measures these similarities using a triangular norm. We show that in a covering approximation space, a triangular norm can induce an inclusion degree, and that the similarity measure between covering rough sets can be given according to this triangular norm and inclusion degree. Thirdly, two generalized covering-based rough set models are proposed, and we employ practical examples to illustrate their applications. Finally, relationships between the proposed covering-based rough set models and the existing rough set models are also made.