Association Journal of CSIAM
Supervised by Ministry of Education of PRC
Sponsored by Xi'an Jiaotong University
ISSN 1005-3085  CN 61-1269/O1

Chinese Journal of Engineering Mathematics ›› 2016, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (3): 259-269.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1005-3085.2016.03.004

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Bayesian Network Parameter Reduction Technique Based on Algebraic Decision Diagrams

WANG Yao,   SUN Qin   

  1. School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072
  • Received:2013-09-09 Accepted:2016-01-29 Online:2016-06-15 Published:2016-08-15
  • Supported by:
    The Quality and Reliability Fundamental Project of the Twelfth Five-year Plan of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (2052013B003).

Abstract:

Bayesian network is an effective tool for uncertainty knowledge presentation and inference. Bayesian network inference algorithm is one of the main fields in Bayesian network research. Currently, in almost every inference algorithm, the conditional probability distribution (CPD) of each node in a Bayesian network is represented in the form of conditional probability table (CPT). However, there is an exponential increase in the number of probability parameters of each CPT as the number of father nodes grows, which will cause an upsurge in the number of parameters in a Bayesian network and finally reduce the inference efficiency. To improve the inference efficiency of Bayesian network, the algebraic decision diagram (ADD) is proposed to represent the CPD of each node in a Bayesian network. Furthermore, by using the theory of ordered binary decision diagram, we analyze and verify the principle that ADD reduces the parameters of a Bayesian network by characterizing the context-specific independence among the parent-child nodes of the net. In addition, the algorithm for converting a CPT into its equivalent ADD is deduced. Eventually, the efficiency of ADD in parameter storage is validated by an example. It shows that for any Bayesian network with the context-specific independence, the parameters of the net can be reduced in the form of the equivalent ADD compared to the form of CPT, which provides a powerful tool for improving the inference efficiency of Bayesian network.

Key words: Bayesian network, algebraic decision diagrams, conditional probability table, context-specific independence

CLC Number: