Parallel implementation of backpropagation neural networks : a study of network-based parallelism

Artificial neural networks have applications in many fields ranging from medicine to image processing. One of the most popular neural network architecture and learning algorithm is the multi-layer feedforward architecture where the Backpropagation (BP) learning scheme is used. Although the BP algorithm is popular, training takes a very long time for large neural networks with a large training set. Training can be sped by parallelising the BP algorithm on a parallel machine. This thesis presents a detailed study of network-based parallelisation of the BP algorithm on message passing multi-computers. In this scheme, the neural network is vertically sliced and distributed among the processing elements connected in a ring topology.Master of Engineerin