Method and associated device for sensing the air/fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one input device;
• and
• a classifier coupled to said at least one input device and configured to implement a probabilistic neural network comprising
• a hidden layer of neurons, each neuron computing respective membership matrix elements for an input vector based upon a respective radial basis function defined by a respective spread factor and according to a distance of the input vector from a respective constant vector,
• said hidden layer comprising a plurality of neurons having different spread factors.

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one sensor;
• and
• a classifier coupled to said at least one sensor and configured to implement a probabilistic neural network comprising
• a hidden layer of neurons, each neuron computing respective membership matrix elements for an input vector based upon a respective radial basis function defined by a respective spread factor and according to a distance of the input vector from a respective constant vector,
• said hidden layer comprising a plurality of neurons having different spread factors,
• the radial basis function comprising a Gaussian function.

A method for internal combustion engine control comprising:

• sensing at least one parameter of the internal combustion engine using at least one sensor;
• and
• implementing a probabilistic neural network in a classifier coupled to the at least one sensor, the probabilistic neural network comprising
• a hidden layer of neurons, each neuron computing respective membership matrix elements for an input vector of the neural network based upon a respective radial basis function defined by a respective spread factor and according to a distance of the input vector from a respective constant vector,
• the hidden layer comprising a plurality of neurons having different spread factors;
• and
• controlling at least one engine parameter of the internal combustion engine based upon the probabilistic neural network.