A Review of Artificial Neural Networks Applications

in Microwave Computer-Aided Design (Invited Article)

P. Burrascano,1 S. Fiori,1 M. Mongiardo 2
1
` di Perugia, I-06100 Perugia, Italy;
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Universita
e-mail: pbr@unipg.it
2
` di Perugia, I-06100 Perugia, Italy;
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informatione, Universita
e-mail: mongiard@unipg.it
Recei¨ ed 10 August 1998; re¨ ised 22 No¨ ember 1998

ABSTRACT: Neural networks found significant applications in microwave CAD. In this

paper, after providing a brief description of neural networks employed so far in this context,
we illustrate some of their most significant applications and typical issues arising in
practical implementation. We also summarize current research tendencies and introduce
use of self-organizing maps enhancing model accuracy and applicability. We conclude
considering some future developments and exciting perspectives opened from use of neural
networks in microwave CAD. 䊚 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 9:
158᎐174, 1999.

Keywords: artificial neural networks; self-organizing maps; microwave components; filter

design

I. INTRODUCTION quite often the entire simulation has to be re-

Computer-aided design of microwave components
typically requires the development of suitable
codes for modeling, possibly in a full-wave man-
ner, the electrical response of the considered
structure. To this end one generally starts from
the very fundamental equations Že.g., Maxwell
equations, transport equations, etc.. and develops
programs for their numerical solution Žvia FDTD,
TLM, integral equation techniques, FEM, FD,
mode-matching, BEM, etc... Such an approach,
while being very satisfactory from the theoretical
viewpoint, presents, nevertheless, some shortcom-
ings with respect to the:
Numerical effort, since the resulting codes are
often too slow for design purposes;
Pre¨ ious experience, since modest or no advan-
tage is taken from previous simulations of ‘‘simi-
lar’’ cases Že.g., if a parameter is slightly changed
Correspondence to: M. Mongiardo.
peated.;
Extrapolation᎐range of ¨ alidity, since a small
change in the data can make the code useless
Že.g., a mode-matching code used in order to
analyze a structure with sharp corners becomes
useless if the corners are even of moderate
rounded shape..
With the above methodology once developed
the code is ‘‘frozen’’, i.e., no modifications of the
latter occur automatically; neither use is made of
the accumulated experience, and the class of solv-
able problems remains fixed.
Possible ways to alleviate the above problems
are generation of look-up tables and multidimen-
sional polynomial models. Unfortunately, the
table’s size grows exponentially with dimension,
hence becoming too difficult to generate and
manage when many parameters are involved.
Polynomial approximation can only handle mild
nonlinearities while in the majority of practical
problems severe nonlinearities are present Žas an

䊚 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 1096-4290r99r030158-17

158

example consider a filter response in terms of its
geometrical parameter..
Nowadays, the relevant and rapidly evolving
market of microwave wireless communication is
determining a paradigm shift in the design of
microwave components: not only the electrical
characteristics being of relevance, but also other
issues such as reduced time to market Ži.e., fast
design., yield optimization, manufactured-ori-
ented design, tolerance analysis, etc., are becom-
ing increasingly important. In other words the
development of microwave components is moving
from ‘‘performance-oriented’’ design to ‘‘statisti-
cal’’ computer-aided design ŽCAD. w1x. Unfortu-
nately, to perform statistical CAD with current
approaches does not appear feasible: a single
analysis of a component may often require sev-
eral hours while, in practice, hundreds of analysis
are required. As a possible remedy, sophisticated
techniques, like the Adjoint Network Method w2᎐6x,
and Space Mapping w7᎐10x have been recently
introduced. However, both techniques still make
use of computer-intensive electromagnetic ŽEM.
full-wave simulators while all is needed is a multi-
dimensional nonlinear approximator which re-
lates the input parameters to the output ones: in
this respect artificial neural networks ŽANNs. ap-
pear to be a good candidate. In fact, as noted in
IEEE Proceedings special issue on ANN w11, pp.
1353᎐1576x, ‘‘While in the 1980s many of the
applications proposed produced results which
were barely competitive with existing approaches,
the 1990s have revealed a variety of application
areas where neural networks are becoming one of
the tools which provide the best results, both
regarding quality of the outcome and the ease of
implementation.’’
It is therefore not surprising that ANN are
currently finding useful applications also in the
microwave context; in fact, to cite again w11, pp.
1353᎐1576x: ‘‘ . . . they are especially useful in situ-
ations where a model-based or parametric ap-
proach to information processing is difficult to
formulate.’’ Actually, for microwave problems, the
model-based approach is indeed feasible but, of-
tentimes, it is rather inconvenient with respect to
the computer resources involved. For the latter
problems ANN provide an excellent complement
to existing models and codes. In fact, in several
cases, existing codes can be used in order to train
the ANN and to provide some a priori knowledge
when needed; moreover ANN can accumulate
experience and merge data obtained from differ-
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 159
ent sources as, e.g., from experimental tests andr
or different numerical methods.
The rapidly evolving field of ANN applications
in microwave CAD and optimization has wit-
nessed several excellent contributions: different
problems have been successfully attacked; new
methodologies have been introduced and signifi-
cant progress has been made in this dynamic area
of microwave CAD. It seems therefore appropri-
ate to try to summarize in this review paper the
progress made so far. The structure of the work is
the following: in Section II the necessary theoret-
ical background on neural networks is provided;
then, in Section III, we illustrate the current
applications of ANN in microwave CAD and, in
Section IV, we discuss some typical issues in
ANN implementation. In Section V we summa-
rize the research trends and innovations; in par-
ticular, we also introduce the use of self-organiz-
ing maps in the microwave context. Finally, in
Section VI, we speculate on some possible future
applications of ANN in microwave CAD.
II. NEURAL NETWORKS:
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Several concepts in neurocomputing have been
inspired by studies of biological networks. From
one perspective neural networks can be thus con-
sidered as a way to further understanding brain
functions; from a different standing point, they
can be regarded as an extension of the conven-
tional data processing techniques developed over
several decades. This latter perspective is the one
we consider: since, as engineers, we are mostly
interested in understanding how neural networks
compare with different processing techniques for
problem solving.
Neural networks are massively parallel, highly
connected structures consisting of a number of
simple, nonlinear processing elements; because of
their massively parallel structure, they can per-
form computations at a very high rate if imple-
mented on a dedicated hardware; because of their
adaptive nature, they can learn the characteristics
of input signals and adapt to changes in the data;
because of their nonlinear nature they can per-
form functional approximation and signal filtering
operations which are beyond optimal linear tech-
niques.
Several neural paradigms are available in the
technical literature; all of them, in some sense,
160 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
derive from the pioneering work of McCulloch
and Pitts w12x, Hebb w13x, and Rosenblatt w14x,
whose work introduced the model of neural net-
works as computing machines, the basic model of
self-organization, and the model of learning with
a teacher, respectively. During the 1960s and
1970s the work of a number of researchers
ŽAmari, Fukushima, Grossberg, Kohonen, Wi-
drow. prepared the start over of the field with the
publication of the works of Hopfield w15x, which
related symmetric dynamical networks to opti-
mization, and Rumelhart, Hinton, and Williams
w16x, which introduced the method of backpropa-
gation.
In the following, a concise description is given
of three neural paradigms Žthe Hopfield network,
the multilayer perceptron and Kohonen self-
organizing maps., which have been considered for
microwave problems.
A. The Hopfield Recurrent Model
The Hopfield model relies on the energy function,
1
Esy
2
Ý wi j S i S j ,
i/j
where
䢇 wi j denotes the weight associated to the
connection between neurons i and j; the
weights matrix is symmetrical and no self-
connections are allowed for stability pur-
pose.
䢇 S i are binary variables Si s "1 Žor 0, 1.
denoting the output of the ith neuron.
By appropriate choice of wi j the model works as
an associative memory: if a corrupted version of a
stored pattern is given as input, the asynchronous
dynamics of the network evolves to minimize E,
and this gives the original version of the stored
pattern as output of the network.
The same paradigm can be used in optimiza-
tion problems: a Hopfield type energy function is
considered, onto which the optimization problem
is mapped with an appropriate choice of wi j . The
network evolves to a stable state where the solu-
tion is given by the configuration of outputs
Ž S1 , S2 , . . . .. Several trials are usually run in order
to reach the global minimum of the energy func-
tion E.
B. Feed-Forward Layered Networks and
Error Backpropagation
Typically feed-forward layered networks consist
of a set of source nodes which constitute the
input layer, one or more hidden layers of compu-
tation nodes and an output layer of computation
nodes. Each processing node Žneuron. performs a
weighted sum of the signal components at its
input; this sum is thus fed into a block performing
a differentiable nonlinear processing Žusually a
sigmoidal logistic function. of the type,
1
f Ž¨ . s . Ž2.
1 q exp Ž y¨ .
The input signal propagates through the net-
work in a forward direction, on a layer-by-layer
basis. These networks are usually referred to as
multilayer perceptrons ŽMLPs.. The processing
task to be performed is described by a set of
input᎐output data Žthe training set.: the network
specializes to solve this task by modifying its
parameters Žweights. by means of an iterative
optimization procedure Žthe learning procedure..
The error backpropagation, described in w16x, is a
Ž1.
widely popular learning technique that provides
an efficient and algorithms stable way to correct
the network weights.
C. The Kohonen Self-Organizing Map
A preliminary step in many processing tasks is the
identification of a reduced set of important fea-
tures in which the essential information for the
task is concentrated. The self-organizing feature
map ŽSOM. is an approach by which such fea-
tures can be obtained by means of an unsuper-
vised learning process. The learning process de-
fines the weights wi j connecting the input to a
single layer of nonlinear units which gradually
develop in an n-dimensional array of feature de-
tectors. The input patterns define a continuous
vector space; the learning procedure provides a
way to quantize this space by defining a
‘‘codebook’’ of significant vectors linked to useful
information. In addition, the training procedure is
constrained in order to force near neurons to be
associated to similar codes. In the resulting map,
the high-dimensional input space is mapped onto
the Žlower dimensional. neural manifold, and sim-
ilar patterns are ‘‘coded’’ together in the same
neuron Žor in nearby neurons.. In the learning
process, the importance of features is derived

from the distribution of the input signals: each
cluster of frequently occurring input stimuli is
represented by a large area in the map.
D. Function Approximation by Learning
One of the most widely considered applications of
neural networks in the field of microwave CAD is
for functional approximation. The capability to
approximate a multivariate, nonlinear function is
a powerful ability of neural models which is out-
lined in the following.
Approximation theory deals with the problem
of approximating or interpolating a continuous,
multivariate function f Ž x . by an approximating
function F Ž w, x . having a fixed number of param-
eters w belonging to some set P. For a choice of
a specific F, the problem is then to find the set of
parameters w that provides the best possible ap-
proximation for f on the set of the available
‘‘examples’’ Žlearning step.. It is fundamental to
choose an approximating function F that can
represent f as well as possible. The problem of
learning a mapping between an input and output
space is equivalent to the problem of synthesizing
an associative memory that retrieves an appropri-
ate output when presented with the input, and
generalizes when presented with new inputs. It is
also equivalent to the problem of estimating the
system that transforms inputs into outputs given a
set of examples of input᎐output pairs: according
to this interpretations both unsupervised and su-
pervised neural networks have been extensively
studied as functional approximators.
The problem of approximating a function of
several variables by MLPs has been studied by
many authors: in w17x Wieland and Leighten deal
with the capabilities of networks consisting of one
or two hidden layers; Irie and Miyake w18x ob-
tained an integral representation formula with an
integrable kernel defined beforehand: this repre-
Figure 1. Typical description of a multilayer perceptron ŽMLP. which implements the
universal approximation theorem reported in Section II.D.
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 161
sentation formula can be realized by a three-layer
feed-forward layered network. In 1989 several
papers related to this topic were published
w19᎐21x: the authors of these papers, following
different techniques, claimed that three-layer
feed-forward layered networks with sigmoid units
in the hidden layer can approximate continuous
or other kinds of functions defined on compact
sets in R n. Their results can be summarized as
follows Žuniversal approximation theorem.: Let
␾ Ž⭈. be a nonconstant, bounded, and monotone-
increasing continuous function. Let l p denote
the p-dimensional unit hypercube w0, 1x p. The
space of continuous functions on l p is denoted
by C Ž l p .. Then, given any function f g C Ž l p .
and ⑀ ) 0, there exist an integer M and sets of
real constants ␣ i , ␪ i , and wi j , where i s 1, . . . , M
and j s 1, . . . , p such that we may define
M p
F Ž x1 , x 2 , . . . , x p . s Ý ␣i ␾ žÝ wi j x j y ␪ i ,
/
is1 js1
Ž3.
as an approximate realization of the function f Ž⭈.;
that is
< F Ž x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p . y f Ž x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p . < - ⑀ , Ž4.
for all  x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p 4 g l p . The coefficient ⑀
somehow measures the degree of approximation
accuracy.
This theorem is directly applicable to MLPs
Žsee Fig. 1.: we first note that the logistic function
is a nonconstant, bounded, and monotone-in-
creasing continuous function; it therefore satisfies
the conditions imposed on ␾ Ž⭈.. Then we note
that Ž3. represents the output of a MLP consist-
ing of p input nodes and a single hidden layer
of M neurons with thresholds ␪ i , and input-to-
hidden weights wi j ; the output neuron is a linear
162 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
one and the hidden-to-output weights ␣ i define
the coefficients of the combination.
E. Practical Application of the Universal
Approximation Theorem
Several fundamental questions must be addressed
in order to make a practical use of MPLs as
approximators. A first question is the following:
how many samples are needed to achieve a given
degree of accuracy? It is well known that the
answer depends on the dimensionality d of the
data space and on the degree of smoothness of
the class of functions that has to be approxi-
mated. It has been shown w22x that the number of
samples needed to approximate a function grows
exponentially with the ratio between the dimen-
sionality d and the degree of smoothness.
Other fundamental questions are related to
both the learning strategy and neural network
topological structure. The universal approxima-
tion theorem is an existence one: it states that a
single-layer network is sufficient for a MLP to
compute a uniform approximation to a given
training set represented by the input᎐output cou-
ples  x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p 4 and f Ž x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p .. It is
worth noting, however, that the theorem does not
say that a single-layer network is optimum in the
sense of learning time or ease of implementation;
moreover, the theorem does not give indications
about the required number of hidden units neces-
sary in order to achieve the desired degree of
accuracy.
Neural network performance is fundamentally
tied to the topology of the network. The capacity
and accuracy of network mapping is determined
by the number of free parameters Žtypically
weights. in the network. Networks that are too
small cannot approximate the desired input᎐out-
put mapping. Networks with too many free pa-
rameters compared to the number of training
samples perform correctly on the training set, but
give poor results with patterns not included in the
training set Žpoor generalization performance..
Figure 2 shows this aspect.
The problem of model complexity selection
arises in all parametric modeling techniques: it
has been approached in the technical literature
by using statistical identification procedures, as
for instance the Akaike Information Criterion
ŽAIC. w23x or the Minimum Description Length
ŽMDL. w24x; in the specific case of neural models,
the use of the above criteria, or their extensions,
has been proposed w25᎐28x.
Figure 2. Typical ANN error behavior. When training
net1 on an increasing number of patterns we note that,
as the number of training patterns exceeds n1, the
training error T1 and the generalization error curve,
G1, tend to overlap: all the information which the
network can store about the problem is in the training
set T1 of n1 samples. If a network net 2 with a higher
number of free parameters is trained in the same way,
the number of training patterns needed to ‘‘fill’’ the
network is n 2 ) n1 Ža higher number of patterns is
needed for good generalization. but the model we
obtain is more accurate than the previous one Ž E2 -
E1 ..
III. APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL
NEURAL NETWORKS TO MICROWAVE
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN:
CURRENT STATUS
As already noted neural networks have found
wide applications in engineering problems as il-
lustrated e.g., in w11x; more specifically ANN have
also been considered in the antennas literature
Že.g., for surface roughness determination w29x,
direction finding in phased arrays w30x, beam shape
prediction of active aperture antennas employing
‘‘smart’’ materials w31x, and effective dielectric
constant computation of microstrip lines w32x..
For illustrating ANN applications to microwave
problems we have considered convenient to re-
strict ourselves to the publications that appeared
at the International Microwave Symposium and
in the IEEE Journal of Microwa¨ e Theory and
Techniques, since this sample, although by no
means exhaustive, is fairly representative of cur-
rent tendencies. In particular, for reference pur-
poses, we have summarized in Table I some data
relative to significant problems attacked by ANN.
From Table I it is possible to observe that
several different classes of problems have been
 Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 163

TABLE I. A List of Microwave Problems Attacked by Neural Networks

Type of Neural
Microwave Problem Purpose᎐Advantage Network Ref. Notes
Automatic To replace manual Hopfield network and w33, 34x; Importance of Smith
impedance matching Žwhich massively distributed chart mapping;
matching requires computer networks possible extension
experience ŽSmith chart. to filter tuning
and can be long
and tedious.; also
considering a
normalized Smith
chart
Modeling of MMIC To replace lengthy Multilyaer feed-forward w35᎐39, 51, 40, 41x; Use of design of
passive elements full-wave EM ANN; backpropagation experiment ŽDoE.
ŽVia interconnects, analysis with a algorithm and of fractional
CPW circuits, faster method factorial experimental
spiral inductors. for use in design; consideration
interactive design of knowledge-
based ANN
Large signal HEMT To avoid solutions Multilayer feed-forward w42᎐46x; Importance of scaling
characterization and of device physics ANN; backpropagation input᎐output
physics-oriented equations algorithm; five layer for parameters;
FET model HEMT in w42x training set obtained
experimentally
for HEMT in w42x
VLSI interconnect To avoid CPU Multilayer feed-forward w47, 46, 45, 44, 43x Introduction of sparsity
models intensive circuit ANN; backpropagation in neural network
Žtransmission simulations algorithm training; use of
line analysis with knowledge-based
nonlinear loads. models
Yield optimization To use fast ANN Multilayer feed-forward w43x Components simulated
of X-band models of devices ANN; backpropagation by neural networks
amplifiers algorithm
Tolerance analysis To avoid repeated Multilayer feed-forward w48x, this work Use of self-organized
of waveguide full-wave analysis ANN; backpropagation maps ŽSOM. for
filters algorithm improved
performances

considered so far, as: following citation w41x: ‘‘Typical circuit simu-

䢇 Automatic impedance matching has been
studied in w33, 34x with the aim of replacing
manual operation by a neural network con-
trolled computer system for matching appli-
cations.
䢇 Modeling of monolithic microwave inte-
grated circuit ŽMMIC. passive elements has
received considerable attention; microstrip
circuits, w35x, via interconnects w36, 37x, also
considering previous knowledge in the form
of equivalent circuits w37x, chamfered Copla-
nar Waveguide ŽCPW. bends w38x and CPW
circuits w39x, spiral inductors w40, 41x have
been studied and modeled by ANN. The
need for the above studies is clarified by the
lator supplied passive elements models do
not accurately account for the parasitic and
coupling effects which occur at microwave᎐
millimeter wave frequencies. To remedy this
situation, libraries of passive components
have been developed by actually fabricating,
testing, and storing the results of hundreds
of elements in a table. This approach is
problematic since the libraries are process
dependent, costly to create, and limits the
designer to a discrete set of components.
Table look-up techniques, while very fast,
suffer from the large memory requirements
associated with the size of the table.
More recently, electromagnetic ŽEM.
analysis tools have become commercially
164 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
available which accurately model passive
structures into the millimeter-wave fre-
quency range. EM simulation effectively
models passive element dispersion and mu-
tual coupling effects ignored by traditional
circuit simulation tools. However, EM simu-
lation methods take tremendous computa-
tional efforts and are not practical for inter-
active CAD . . . The execution time for a
full-wave EM simulation depends on the
number of grid points used when meshing
the structure and the numerical tolerances.
The number of grid points greatly depends
on the smallest critical geometric feature.
For example, the time required for the EM
simulation of a 2.5-turn spiral inductor on a
5-␮ m grid is about 3 min per frequency
point. However, the time required for a sim-
ilar inductor on a 2-␮ m grid is about 53 min
per frequency point. These simulation times
clearly limit the practicality of EM simula-
tion in an interactive CAD environment.’’
Moreover, since EM tools are also used in
order to generate the training set, the above
statements clearly show why some form of design
of experiment ŽDoE. is absolutely necessary for
these cases.
䢇 Large signal HEMT characterization w42x
and physics-oriented FET model w43᎐46x. In
w42x the bias-dependent behavior of the
HEMT has been characterized in terms of
the intrinsic elements of a conventional
small-signal equivalent circuit. Noticeably,
the intrinsic element data depending on two
input parameters, Vg s and Vd s , have been
obtained from the S-parameters measure-
ments performed at various bias settings.
Also in the same work it has been found
that a fi¨ e-layered configuration composed
of only 28 neurons is adequate to simultane-
ously represent seven bias-dependent intrin-
sic elements from Vg s and Vd s . In w44x
instead, a three-layer feed-forward neural
network has been considered for modeling a
FET having six input parameters Žgate-
length L, gate width W, channel thickness
a, doping density Nd , and Vg s and Vd s .; 100
neurons were used in the hidden layer.
However, in this case an ingenious proce-
dure making use of the sparsity of the inter-
nal activations of neural networks has been
devised.
䢇 VLSI interconnect models, i.e., transmission
line analysis with nonlinear loads have been
simulated by using ANN in w43᎐47x; as noted
in w47x ‘‘Modeling of lossy interconnects is
done by electromagnetic ŽEM. simulation
techniques, which involve the numerical
simulation of Maxwell’s equations or vari-
ants thereof. Full-wave three-dimensional
Ž3D. EM analysis, being approximation free,
gives very accurate results, but is highly
CPU-intensive, and thus is not feasible for
on-line use in large scale CAD and opti-
mization techniques.’’ For this type of appli-
cation ANN can provide substantial on-line
speed-up with respect to conventional meth-
ods Žas an example consider Table IV of w47x
where EM simulation takes 20᎐80 h, while
ANN takes about 40᎐130 s. In the same
work, data reported in Table V show that
NILT Žnumerical inversion of Laplace trans-
form. takes about 34.43 h, AWE Žasymptotic
waveform evaluation. takes 9.56 h and the
ANN uses only 6.67 min..
䢇 Yield optimization of X-band amplifiers has
been considered as an example in w43x. In
this case a three-stage X-band MMIC am-
plifier was considered and the Khatibzadeh
and Trew model has been compared with a
neural model; the speed-up ratio using the
neural model was 6 for the optimization
part, 30 for Monte Carlo analysis, and 5 for
yield optimization Žsee Table VI of w43x..
䢇 Tolerance analysis of waveguide filters has
been studied in w48x. In this case it was
noted that ‘‘after the learning phase the
trained network gives its response in a few
milliseconds and allows to approximate any
filter response in the range of geometrical
values we considered Ž40 ␮ m for each di-
mension, 4 = the nominal tolerances.
. . . The computational cost associated to the
modal analysis procedure is over 100= more
expensive than the one associated to the
neural model.’’
IV. TYPICAL ISSUES IN ARTIFICIAL
NEURAL NETWORK IMPLEMENTATION
Naturally, except for w33, 34x Žwhich address a
fairly different problem., some common topics
are almost invariably present when applying ANN

for microwave CAD, namely:
䢇 choice and scaling of the input᎐output
quantities;
䢇 choice of the structure and dimensionality
of the ANN: number of hidden layers, num-
ber of neurons per layer, etc.;
䢇 dimensionality of the training set;
䢇 network parameters determination;
With reference to the microwave problems al-
ready considered, we now discuss in more detail
the above items after a brief discussion of the
ANN error behavior.
A. Artificial Neural Network
Error Behavior
As already mentioned in Section II.E, we can
identify two kinds of errors, with their typical
behavior depicted in Figure 2, which affect the
response of ANN:
䢇 Training error: the square mean error when
the set of training samples is fed to the
trained network. As the topology complexity
increases Ži.e., a larger number of neurons
are used. this error decreases. This type of
error increases with the number of samples
up to a certain level and then remains al-
most constant;
䢇 Generalization error: square mean error when
a set of samples not present in the training
set is fed to the trained network. This error
decreases when more complex topologies
are selected. It generally starts from higher
values Žwhen a reduced number of samples
is considered. and then goes to a constant
value as the number of samples is increased.
A typical example of the above error behavior
for a practical case is shown in Figure 3 where
training and generalization errors are plotted for
the ANN used to represent the waveguide filter
response; in this case 50 neurons were present in
the hidden layer.
B. Choice and Scaling of the
Input – Output Parameters
Typically, when ANN are used in order to replace
EM-based simulation tools, the input parameters
are the geometrical dimensions and the fre-
quency. As an example, when modeling the spiral
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 165
Figure 3. Training and generalization errors for the
case of a waveguide filter.
inductor, w41x, five geometrical parameters have
been selected; in modeling a broadband GaAs
microstrip via hole w37x three geometrical param-
eters plus frequency have been used; in w46x,
when modeling the cross-sectional per unit length
mutual inductance between two conductors of a
coupled microstrip transmission line, five geomet-
rical parameters and frequency have been se-
lected; similarly, for studying a waveguide filter in
w48x, 12 geometrical parameters plus frequency
have been employed.
In device modeling, in addition to the geomet-
rical parameters Žwhen present., also electrical
quantities are generally used as inputs. As an
example, in w42x just Vg s and Vd s have been used;
while in w43x, four geometrical parameters plus
Vg s and Vd s have been employed.
In order both to improve the approximation
accuracy and the learning process, the input data
are also scaled on suitable ranges, often by using
the sigmoidal function as, e.g., in w48x and in w42x.
The output parameters are typically the scat-
tering parameters or, in the case of device model-
ing some component value; in most examples they
have been limited to a few Že.g., five in w41x, six in
w43x, and seven in w42x.. Naturally, since the out-
put of a neuron varies between 0 and 1, which
are the asymptotic limits of the sigmoidal trans-
fer function, it is apparent that the entire out-
put space must also be scaled to vary between 0
and 1.
Note that in several problems it is customary,
and advantageous, to represent the quantities of
interest in a logarithmic scale ŽdB.. For example,
for the waveguide filter case, we have found it
convenient to apply the following procedure: in
166 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
the training phase we have generated the S11
data, in dB, and we have performed a nonlinear
compression before feeding the ANN; then, when
using the ANN, we have given the geometrical
parameters in input to the ANN and subsequently
we have decompressed its response.
C. Choice of the Structure and
Dimensionality of the Artificial
Neural Network
In most of the works, the chosen structure is a
feed-forward three-layer Žone hidden. ANN. Ac-
tually, only in w33, 34x Žwhere a somewhat differ-
ent type of problem was addressed. and in w42x
Žfive layers with 3-4-6-8-7 neurons. a different
configuration was used. In the other cases the
number of neurons in the hidden layer was cho-
sen to be 10 in the one-port microstrip via exam-
ple in w37x, 32 in the spiral inductor case of w41x,
50 in the waveguide filter in w48x, and 100 for the
MESFET example in w43x.
However, the question arises on how this num-
ber of neurons has been selected. As noted in
w37x: ‘‘A network with too few neurons will not be
able to map complex input᎐output relationships,
while a network with too many neurons adds
complexity, increases training time, and tends to
overfit the training data instead of generalizing.’’
Typically, a simple to complex procedure is
used in order to determine the number of neu-
rons in the hidden layer. By adding neurons to
the hidden layer the training error decreases;
when such error has been reduced to acceptable
values that particular architecture is retained. The
training error vs. the number of neurons in the
hidden layer for the waveguide filter case w48x is
reported in Figure 4. Techniques like those de-
scribed in w23᎐28x can give precise information
about optimal network topology, at the expense
of heavy compensations.
D. Dimensionality of the Training Set
The dimensionality of the training set is related
to the complexity of the selected ANN. Examples
of typical values for the training set dimensions
are: 630 training vectors for the spiral inductor
case in w41x ŽC-X band case.; 65 different filters
and 300 frequency points for the waveguide filter
in w48x; while for the broadband GaAs microstrip
via simulation in w37x, six frequency points, 15
DoE central composite points, and 14 additional
Figure 4. Training error vs. number of hidden neu-
rons for the case of a waveguide filter.
training᎐testing points spaced midway between
the previous points were considered.
E. Artificial Neural Networks
Parameters Determination
This topic has received considerable attention in
the neural network literature and several differ-
ent alternatives have been proposed: gradient de-
scent wand, in particular backpropagation ŽBP.x,
simulated annealing, tabu search, etc. Noticeably,
in all the works considered for microwave appli-
cations, the BP algorithm has been the selected
option, probably for its very high computational
efficiency. In some cases, when properties related
to sparsity and to the previous knowledge have
been exploited, innovative algorithms based on
BP have been devised. Although the drawback of
local minima is known for BP, no significant
problems related to the occurrence of the latter
has been reported so far in the microwave
literature.
V. SPECIFIC ISSUES AND
INNOVATIONS IN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL
NETWORKS IMPLEMENTATION
In this section we discuss some novel and particu-
lar issues in the ANN implementation that, al-
though not always used, have significantly im-
proved the ANN performance. In fact, in several
applications, some clever solutions have been de-
vised in order to reduce the dimensionality of the
ANN, to reduce the training time and training set
dimension and to improve its accuracy. Probably,

the most important topics to consider in this
context, and which will be discussed in detail in
the following subsections, are:
䢇 knowledge-based ANN
䢇 use of sparsity
䢇 selection of the training set via DoE
䢇 accuracy improvement by self-organizing
maps ŽSOM.;
A. Knowledge-Based Artificial
Neural Network
It is well known that a large arsenal of models
already exist for most of the cases considered in
microwave CAD, e.g., equivalent circuits devel-
oped for microstrip via holes or for CPW discon-
tinuities. Two approaches have been reported so
far in the ANN microwave literature in order to
take advantage of previous knowledge: the hybrid
EM-ANN modeling w37x and the knowledge-based
neural models w46x.
According to w37x: ‘‘The hybrid EM-ANN model
is formed by generating the difference in S-
parameters between the existing approximate
model and the EM simulation results Ž ⌬ S .. The
Ž ⌬ S . data is then used to train the EM-ANN
model.’’ The main advantage is that a simpler
input᎐output relationship is considered, hence
requiring less EM simulation points. In particu-
lar, for the two-port broadband GaAs microstrip
via example considered in w37x the number of EM
simulations points needed to train the hybrid
model for a given accuracy has been almost half
that needed for the complete model. Errors of
the same order have been obtained by using 15
training points for the hybrid model and 29 train-
ing points for the complete model. Accordingly,
also the training time has been significantly re-
duced Ž5 h 44 min for the hybrid model; 11 h 35
min for the complete model; times are relative to
an HP 700 workstation..
In w45, 46x a knowledge-based neural network
ŽKBNN. has been introduced. As noted in w46x,
same work, after extensive comparison in several
cases, ‘‘ . . . the overall tendency suggests that the
accuracy of KBNN trained by a small set of
training data is comparable to that of MLP trained
by a larger set of training data.’’ As far as the
training time is concerned, according to the au-
thors, ‘‘The CPU time for MLP training by the
conventional sample-by-sample error backpropa-
gation approach ranged from 22 to 60 min. The
CPU time for MLP or KBNN training by pro-
posed gradient based l 2 optimization approach in
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 167
batch mode ranged from 20 s to 9 min.’’ Another
important point to note concerns the generaliza-
tion capability: according to w46x ‘‘Moving to the
extrapolation region, the accuracy of KBNNs de-
teriorates much more slowly than that of MLPs.’’
To summarize, the main advantages of knowl-
edge-based ANN are:
i. the possibility of using already developed
equivalent circuits or methods of analysis;
ii. the dimensionality reduction of the training
set and the consequent reduction of the
training time;
iii. the improved generalization capabilities.
It seems fair to conclude that the pioneering work
of the above authors have paved the way to very
exciting developments for the application of neu-
ral networks together with the methods᎐
models᎐equivalent circuits already in use in mi-
crowave CAD and, in Section VI, we therefore try
to draw some possible future developments in this
area.
B. Selection of the Training Set Via
Design of Experiment
Another way to reduce the dimension of the
training set is to carefully select the training set
points according to concepts on the design of
experiment introduced by Taguchi. The applica-
bility of these concepts to microwave CAD has
been recently illustrated in w1x. In ANN modeling
of microwave problems the DoE has been used
typically in order to reduce the amount of time-
consuming EM full-wave simulations, e.g., in
w36᎐39x; while fractional-factorial experimental
design has been adopted in w40, 41x.
It seems likely that, since the above investiga-
tions have demonstrated the usefulness of DoE in
ANN, future works may increasingly rely upon
these types of techniques.
C. Use of Sparsity
The sparsity concept is commonly used in the
circuit analysis area and in microwave CAD w49x
and, in w44x it has been introduced in the ANN as
a new form of training, the sparse-training tech-
nique. The basic remark for introducing this tech-
nique is that for each sample many neuron activa-
tions are close to zero; this gives rise to sparsity in
the network and has no effect on weights update.
Naturally the speed-up achievable with this tech-
nique depends on the sparsity present: reduction
168 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo

of CPU time of more than 50% have been re-
ported in w44x.
D. Self-Organizing Maps
In w48x it has been shown that a feed-forward
neural model can represent the amplitude re-
sponse of a microwave filter even if the tolerances
taken into account Ž"40 ␮ m. are much wider
than those which have to be expected in a usual
manufacturing process Ž"10 ␮ m.. It was also
noted, moreover, that an increase in the tolerance
range implies a significant wider dispersion of
filter response behaviors Ždecreased accuracy.. To
enhance the accuracy of the model its topology
has to be significantly increased. Unfortunately,
training a neural model of increased topological
complexity leads to an excessive computational
effort required during the training phase.
In order to define a general neural modeling
procedure, we can introduce a scheme which
overcomes this problem by automatically identify-
ing a number of ‘‘classes’’ of filter behaviors such
that the mean square difference between all
curves within the same class is minimized. Model-
ing the filter curves within each one of these
clusters significantly reduces the problems evi-
denced above. To obtain this result two main
steps have to be performed: the first one is to
define an automatic procedure to cluster similar
curve behaviors, the second one is to define a
neural model for each cluster of filter responses.
The first step was performed by training a
Kohonen ‘‘self-organizing neural map’’ ŽSOM.
w50x. In particular, a SOM was trained with as
many input nodes as the number of frequency
samples considered to define each filter response.
The number of neurons of the SOM equals the
number of classes we want to identify in the set of
filter responses. Figure 5 shows the results ob-
tained in the case of four classes considered.
Once the group of filter responses belonging to
each class is defined, a MLP is trained on the

Figure 5. When using SOM a number of classes of filter behaviors are identified such that
the mean square difference between all curves within the same class is minimized. For the
waveguide filter case, a SOM with four neurons has produced the above four classes.

responses of each class. In this way a feed-for-
ward neural model is obtained for each one of the
classes.
After the SOM and the MPLs have been
trained the overall modeling procedure can be
performed, as described in Figure 6.
䢇 We start by giving the geometrical parame-
ters to a first step MLP, which gives an early
approximation of a filter response. In this
case a relatively simple topology can be used.
The results reported refer to a 13-35-1 net-
work Ž35 neurons in the hidden layer., much
lighter to be trained than the 13-50-1 topol-
ogy adopted in the case of single step model.
䢇 This first step approximation is used to feed
the SOM, whose output indicates the class
which the filter response belongs to.
䢇 The third and final step is then to select the
neural model associated to that specific class:
its output gives the required filter response.
The results obtained by using this multistep
procedure significantly improve the modeling re-
sults, as shown in Figure 7. Note that in this
example we had already obtained very good mod-
eling results by means of the single step proce-
dure. The multistep procedure has the further
advantage that it can be virtually extended to any
number of classes by only modifying the number
of SOMs neurons. Furthermore, the number of
steps can be incremented, if needed, in order to
define a ‘‘modeling tree’’ virtually of any depth by
using MLP models dedicated to a relatively uni-
form class of filter responses. In spite of the more
complicated structure of the model, the computa-
Figure 6. Modeling procedure by SOM.
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 169
tional effort is reduced because:
䢇 training a SOM is an extremely light task.
䢇 Training each MLP implies a relatively light
computational cost because it models a set
of homogeneous filter responses.
In particular, in the experiments whose results
are shown in Figure 7, the overall training time
was about 80% than that required to train the
single step MLP model.
VI. POSSIBLE FUTURE
DEVELOPMENTS
We will conclude our review with the challenging
task of suggesting some possible future develop-
ments of ANN in microwave CAD. The chance of
writing a dreambook is naturally present but,
nonetheless, we consider it worthwhile to under-
take this risk.
A. Artificial Neural Network Applicability
in Microwave Computer-Aided Design
The previous sections have demonstrated the use-
fulness of ANN in microwave CAD; however, for
their widespread application, we need a seamless
integration of ANN with existent CAD software.
Naturally, it is unlikely that the typical microwave
designer would like to deal with topics such as
how many neurons to select or how many training
samples are necessary to generate. A similar situ-
ation was present a few years ago for full-wave
EM simulators: software was developed in spe-
cialized labs and required rather sophisticated
170 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
Figure 7. Comparison between general model Župper
figure. and specialized model Žlower figure. for class 1
filter responses. The reduction of the error standard
deviation is apparent when using SOM. Similar re-
sponses have been obtained for the other classes.
knowledge for its use. Successively, easy-to-use
commercial software has become available and is
nowadays fairly common.
A possible application scenario is to have, say,
an EM full-wave simulator with an included neu-
ral network. When the designer anticipates a fairly
repetitive task Žas in yield optimization or toler-
ance analysis . he can choose the structure of
interest Žits input᎐output parameters, their range
of variation, the typical accuracy desired, etc..
and tell the code to automatically select and train
a neural network suitable for that particular task.
The ANN set-up Žselection and training. may be
performed during, say, night-time, hence provid-
ing from the day after the designer with an ex-
tremely fast simulation tool.
Another interesting possibility is to have an
ANN engine which can be related to other exter-
nal software. Again, when repetitive tasks are
anticipated, the designer could tell the ANN en-
gine to generate a model, with specified input᎐
output parameter, by repeatedly running the ex-
ternal simulation tool.
B. Choice of the Appropriate
Input – Output Data Set
In several cases, from the user perspective, the
choice of the input data set is fairly obvious, e.g.,
in the filter case the input data are the waveguide
geometrical parameters. However, they may not
be the most significant parameters: for example,
roughly speaking, a filter response depends on the
resonances of its cavities; such resonances being
determined by the length and width of the various
cavities. In other words, it is the combination of
the width and length of the cavities that has the
most important impact on the filter response, not
their individual values. Naturally, if neurons are
fed with an appropriate combination of the input
parameters better results Žin terms of simplified
network complexity, reduced training set and time,
etc.. may be expected.
A similar remark also holds for the output
quantities. Let us consider again the waveguide
filter case where the designer is naturally inter-
ested in the frequency response of the filter Žout-
put data.. However, such frequency response is
completely characterized by relatively few param-
eters Že.g., the pole-zero locations for a typical
filter.. It should be therefore more convenient to
require as output of the neural network the pole
and zero pattern than the entire frequency re-
sponse.
Hence it seems appropriate to divide the vari-
ables as customarily done in control theory: some
variables are of interest for the designer Žobserva-
ble: for the filter case in input the geometrical
parameters and in output the frequency response.;
while some other data are best suited to describe
the system behavior Žstate variables: for the filter
case the cavities resonance and the pole-zero
location.. Proper use of this classification may
suggest suitable ANN architectures which may
help in reducing ANN complexity.
C. Extending Neuron Abilities
Another interesting possibility is in the direction
of extending the neurons abilities. Let us consider
a knowledge-based ANN; it has been already
observed w46x that the knowledge neurons may be
an empirical or semi-analytical function Žfor ex-

ample, the drain current of a FET as a function
of its gate length, gate width, channel thickness,
doping density, gate voltage, and drain voltage..
However, the knowledge neurons may also be
sophisticated CAD tools. As an example, for EM
simulation problems, we can imagine knowledge-
based neurons implementing modal techniques,
or FEM. Naturally the response of these neurons
may require a significant amount of time. There-
fore they are activated only when no other faster
analyses are feasible. In this way the range of
applicability of the ANN will be increased.
D. Artificial Neural Network for
Method Hybridization
ANN may also be useful to perform method
hybridization at the data level: let us consider, for
example, a waveguide filter which may Žor may
not. present rounded corners or tuning screws,
etc. If the filter structure is simple enough then
relatively fast modal techniques can be used to
generate the training set; however when complex
artifacts like screws are present CPU intensive
FEM or FDTD need to be used for generating
the relative data. In the same way the ANN can
make use of data generated by different numeri-
cal approaches, or even mix them with experi-
mental data.
E. Artificial Neural Network as a Tool for
Space Mapping
The numerical effort of an EM simulator is often
related to the desired accuracy Žnumber of modes
selected in modal analysis; grid dimension in FD,
etc... Simulation performed with a coarse grid are
fast but inaccurate; on the other hand, the use of
a finer grid may require excessive computer time.
In this case an ANN can be trained for taking as
input data the one generated with the coarse grid
and producing as an output the data relative to
the finer grid model.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
From our review of the ANN applications in
microwave CAD it seems possible to draw the
following conclusions:
䢇 ANN have already found wide applications
in replacing time-consuming simulations by
off-line trained neural networks; i.e., mi-
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 171
crowave models are available but they are
too slow for design purposes;
䢇 since significant knowledge has already been
developed the use of knowledge-based neu-
ral models is particularly relevant;
䢇 ANN are going to play an important role in
the most CPU intensive part of microwave
CAD, namely: yield optimization, tolerance
analysis, manufacturing-oriented design;
䢇 some forms of design of experiment ŽDoE.
will probably become a common tool also in
microwave CAD in order to reduce the di-
mensions of the training and test sets;
䢇 further improvement of the neural modeling
accuracy by means of a preliminary cluster-
ing of the responses via self-organizing maps
seems also to be very promising. This proce-
dure implies that the overall modeling task
is divided into several single modeling pro-
cesses, allowing a higher degree of accuracy
without implying an unacceptable increase
of the computational cost associated to the
training phase.
It seems fair to conclude that ANN applications
in microwave CAD appear to be very promising;
ANN will probably be used not as an alternati¨ e
to existing model-based CAD tools but rather as
a useful and necessary complement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Several discussions and fruitful exchanges of ideas with
Professor J. Bandler are gratefully acknowledged.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Pietro Burrascano received his Laurea
degree in electronic engineering in 1980
from the University of Rome ‘‘La
Sapienza,’’ Italy, where he continued his
research activity until 1981. From 1981 to
1983 he was with Telespazio S.p.A., in-
volved in planning activity of satellite
telecommunication systems. In 1983 he
joined Infocom Dept. at the University of
Rome ‘‘La Sapienza’’ as a researcher and, after 1992, as an
Associated Professor of electrical circuit theory. From 1994 he
is Full Professor at the University of Perugia, Italy.
He is the author of several papers in the fields of techno-
logical development of thin film filters, digital circuits synthe-
sis, parametric modelling of physical systems, digital signal
processing and neural networks. His current research activi-
ties are concerned with theory and applications of artificial
neural networks to signal processing.
Simone Fiori was born in Rimini in 1971.
He received the Italian Laurea with Hon-
ors in Electronics Engineering in 1996,
and is currently working toward his Ph.D.
in Electrical Engineering ŽCircuit The-
ory. at the Department of Electronics
and Automatics of the University of An-
cona. In 1998 he joined the Department
of Industrial Engineering of the Univer-
sity of Perugia as Two-Year Visiting Researcher.
Artificial Neural Networks in Microwa¨ e CAD 173
45. F. Wang and Q. Zhang, Knowledge based neural
models for microwave design, IEEE Int Microwave
Symp Dig, 1997.
46. F. Wang and Q. Zhang, Knowledge based neural
models for microwave design, IEEE Trans Mi-
crowave Theory Tech 45 Ž1997., 2333᎐2343.
47. A. Veluswami, M.S. Nakhla, and Q.J. Zhang, The
application of neural networks to em-based simula-
tion and optimization of interconnects in high-speed
VLSI circuits, IEEE Trans Microwave Theory Tech
45 Ž1997., 712᎐723.
48. P. Burrascano, M. Dionigi, C. Fancelli, and M.
Mongiardo, A neural network model for CAD and
optimization of microwave filters, Int Microwave
Symp Dig, 1998, pp. 13᎐16.
49. A. Caproni, F. Cervelli, M. Mongiardo, L. Tarri-
cone, and F. Malucelli, Bandwidth reduced full-
wave simulation of planar microstrip circuits, ACES
Special Issue, 13 Ž1998., 197᎐204.
50. T. Kohonen, Clustering, taxonomy, and topological
maps of patterns, Proc of the VI Int Conf on
Pattern Recognition, 1982.
51. P. Watson, K. Gupta, and R.L. Mahajan, Develop-
ment of knowledge based artificial neural network
models for microwave components, Int Microwave
Symp Dig, 1998, pp. 9᎐12.
His research interests include: Artificial Neural Networks,
unsupervised learning theory, principal component analysis,
independent component analysis, neural units with adaptive
activation functions; linear and non-linear adaptive discrete-
time filtering, blind deconvolution of non-minimum phase
systems, blind image deblurring; non-destructive matter test
and defect identification by neural networks based processing
of eddy current inspection date; vision and image processing
by neural networks for robot motion control.
Mauro Mongiardo was born on Decem-
ber 3, 1959 in Rome, Italy. He has stud-
ied at the University of Rome ‘‘La
Sapienza.’’ After obtaining the Laurea
degree in 1983 he has been involved in
joint projects between the University of
Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’ and a local industry
ŽElettronica .. In 1988 he became an as-
sistant professor in microwaves at the
University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’; during that period he has
also studied for a Ph.D. degree at the University of Bath.
Since 1992 he has been an associate professor, first at the
University of Palermo and then at the University of Perugia.
His scientific interests have been mainly focused in the CAD
and optimization of microwave and millimeter-wave passive
components and MMICs. He has served on the Technical
Program Committee ŽCAD procedures. of the Microwave
Theory and Technique Symposium. He has also served as
174 Burrascano, Fiori, and Mongiardo
reviewer for several Journals and Conferences Ž IEEE MTT
Transactions, IEEE Microwa¨ e and Guided Wa¨ e Letters, Inter-
national Journal of Numerical Modeling, International Journal
of Microwa¨ e and Millimeter-Wa¨ e Computer-Aided Engineer-
ing, Journal of Electromagnetic Wa¨ es, European Microwave
Conference, Italian National Conference of Electromag-
netism, AEU.. Mauro Mongiardo has been a visiting professor
at the Bath University, at the University of Victoria, B.C.,
Canada, the University of Corvallis, Oregon, USA, and the
technical University of Muenchen, Germany. Mauro Mongia-
rdo is the co-author of one book and about 140 technical
publications.