  Existing FNNs are mostly developed under a shallow network configuration
having lower generalization power than those of deep structures. This paper
proposes a novel self-organizing deep FNN, namely DEVFNN. Fuzzy rules can be
automatically extracted from data streams or removed if they play limited role
during their lifespan. The structure of the network can be deepened on demand
by stacking additional layers using a drift detection method which not only
detects the covariate drift, variations of input space, but also accurately
identifies the real drift, dynamic changes of both feature space and target
space. DEVFNN is developed under the stacked generalization principle via the
feature augmentation concept where a recently developed algorithm, namely
gClass, drives the hidden layer. It is equipped by an automatic feature
selection method which controls activation and deactivation of input attributes
to induce varying subsets of input features. A deep network simplification
procedure is put forward using the concept of hidden layer merging to prevent
uncontrollable growth of dimensionality of input space due to the nature of
feature augmentation approach in building a deep network structure. DEVFNN
works in the sample-wise fashion and is compatible for data stream
applications. The efficacy of DEVFNN has been thoroughly evaluated using seven
datasets with non-stationary properties under the prequential test-then-train
protocol. It has been compared with four popular continual learning algorithms
and its shallow counterpart where DEVFNN demonstrates improvement of
classification accuracy. Moreover, it is also shown that the concept drift
detection method is an effective tool to control the depth of network structure
while the hidden layer merging scenario is capable of simplifying the network
complexity of a deep network with negligible compromise of generalization
performance.
