Complex Sequential Data Analysis: A Systematic Literature Review of Existing Algorithms

Dandajena, Kudakwashe; Venter, Isabella M.; Ghaziasgar, Mehrdad; Dodds, Reg

This paper provides a review of past approaches to the use of deep-learning frameworks for the analysis of discrete irregular-patterned complex sequential datasets. A typical example of such a dataset is financial data where specific events trigger sudden irregular changes in the sequence of the data. Traditional deep-learning methods perform poorly or even fail when trying to analyse these datasets. The results of a systematic literature review reveal the dominance of frameworks based on recurrent neural networks. The performance of deep-learning frameworks was found to be evaluated mainly using mean absolute error and root mean square error accuracy metrics. Underlying challenges that were identified are: lack of performance robustness, non-transparency of the methodology, internal and external architectural design and configuration issues. These challenges provide an opportunity to improve the framework for complex irregular-patterned sequential datasets.