isanomaly

Find anomalies in data using one-class support vector machine (SVM)

Since R2022b

Syntax

tf = isanomaly(Mdl,Tbl)

tf = isanomaly(Mdl,X)

tf = isanomaly(___,ScoreThreshold=scoreThreshold)

[tf,scores] = isanomaly(___)

Description

tf = isanomaly(Mdl,Tbl) finds anomalies in the table Tbl using the OneClassSVM object Mdl and returns the logical array tf, whose elements are true when an anomaly is detected in the corresponding row of Tbl. You must use this syntax if you create Mdl by passing a table to the ocsvm function.

tf = isanomaly(Mdl,X) finds anomalies in the matrix X. You must use this syntax if you create Mdl by passing a matrix to the ocsvm function.

tf = isanomaly(___,ScoreThreshold=scoreThreshold) specifies the threshold for the anomaly score using any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes. isanomaly identifies observations with scores above scoreThreshold as anomalies.

[tf,scores] = isanomaly(___) also returns an anomaly score in the range (–inf,inf) for each observation in Tbl or X. A negative score value with large magnitude indicates a normal observation, and a large positive value indicates an anomaly.

Examples

Detect Novelties

Create a OneClassSVM object for uncontaminated training observations by using the ocsvm function. Then detect novelties (anomalies in new data) by passing the object and the new data to the object function isanomaly.

Load the 1994 census data stored in census1994.mat. The data set consists of demographic data from the US Census Bureau to predict whether an individual makes over $50,000 per year.

load census1994

census1994 contains the training data set adultdata and the test data set adulttest.

ocsvm does not use observations with missing values. Remove missing values in the data sets to reduce memory consumption and speed up training.

adultdata = rmmissing(adultdata);
adulttest = rmmissing(adulttest);

Train a one-class SVM for adultdata. Assume that adultdata does not contain outliers. Specify StandardizeData as true to standardize the input data, and set KernelScale to "auto" to let the function select an appropriate kernel scale parameter using a heuristic procedure.

rng("default") % For reproducibility
[Mdl,~,s] = ocsvm(adultdata,StandardizeData=true,KernelScale="auto");

Mdl is a OneClassSVM object. If you do not specify the ContaminationFraction name-value argument as a value greater than 0, then ocsvm treats all training observations as normal observations. The function sets the score threshold to the maximum score value. Display the threshold value.

Mdl.ScoreThreshold

ans = 
0.0322

Find anomalies in adulttest by using the trained one-class SVM model. Because you specified StandardizeData=true when you trained the model, the isanomaly function standardizes the input data by using the predictor means and standard deviations of the training data stored in the Mu and Sigma properties, respectively.

[tf_test,s_test] = isanomaly(Mdl,adulttest);

The isanomaly function returns the anomaly indicators tf_test and scores s_test for adulttest. By default, isanomaly identifies observations with scores above the threshold (Mdl.ScoreThreshold) as anomalies.

Create histograms for the anomaly scores s and s_test. Create a vertical line at the threshold of the anomaly scores.

h1 = histogram(s,NumBins=50,Normalization="probability");
hold on
h2 = histogram(s_test,h1.BinEdges,Normalization="probability");
xline(Mdl.ScoreThreshold,"r-",join(["Threshold" Mdl.ScoreThreshold]))
h1.Parent.YScale = 'log';
h2.Parent.YScale = 'log';
legend("Training Data","Test Data",Location="north")
hold off

Display the observation index of the anomalies in the test data.

find(tf_test)

ans =

  0×1 empty double column vector

The anomaly score distribution of the test data is similar to that of the training data, so isanomaly does not detect any anomalies in the test data with the default threshold value. You can specify a different threshold value by using the ScoreThreshold name-value argument. For an example, see Specify Anomaly Score Threshold.

Specify Anomaly Score Threshold

Specify the threshold value for anomaly scores by using the ScoreThreshold name-value argument of isanomaly.

Load the 1994 census data stored in census1994.mat. The data set consists of demographic data from the US Census Bureau to predict whether an individual makes over $50,000 per year.

load census1994

census1994 contains the training data set adultdata and the test data set adulttest.

ocsvm does not use observations with missing values. Remove missing values in the data sets to reduce memory consumption and speed up training.

adultdata = rmmissing(adultdata);
adulttest = rmmissing(adulttest);

Train a one-class SVM model for adultdata. Specify StandardizeData as true to standardize the input data, and set KernelScale to "auto" to let the function select an appropriate kernel scale parameter using a heuristic procedure.

rng("default") % For reproducibility
[Mdl,~,scores] = ocsvm(adultdata, ...
    StandardizeData=true,KernelScale="auto");

Plot a histogram of the score values. Create a vertical line at the default score threshold.

h = histogram(scores,NumBins=50,Normalization="probability");
h.Parent.YScale = 'log';
xline(Mdl.ScoreThreshold,"r-",join(["Threshold" Mdl.ScoreThreshold]))

Find the anomalies in the test data using the trained one-class SVM model. Use a different threshold from the default threshold value obtained when training the model.

First, determine the score threshold by using the isoutlier function.

[~,~,U] = isoutlier(scores)

U = 
-0.5342

Specify the value of the ScoreThreshold name-value argument as U. Because you specified StandardizeData as true when you trained Mdl, the isanomaly function standardizes new input data using the means and standard deviations stored in Mdl.Mu and Mdl.Sigma, respectively.

[tf_test,scores_test] = isanomaly(Mdl,adulttest,ScoreThreshold=U);
h = histogram(scores_test,NumBins=50,Normalization="probability");
h.Parent.YScale = 'log';
xline(U,"r-",join(["Threshold" U]))

Input Arguments

Mdl — Trained one-class SVM model

OneClassSVM object

Trained one-class SVM model, specified as a OneClassSVM object.

Tbl — Predictor data

table

Predictor data, specified as a table. Each row of Tbl corresponds to one observation, and each column corresponds to one predictor variable. Multicolumn variables and cell arrays other than cell arrays of character vectors are not allowed.

If you train Mdl using a table, then you must provide predictor data by using Tbl, not X. All predictor variables in Tbl must have the same variable names and data types as those in the training data. However, the column order in Tbl does not need to correspond to the column order of the training data.

Data Types: table

X — Predictor data

numeric matrix

Predictor data, specified as a numeric matrix. Each row of X corresponds to one observation, and each column corresponds to one predictor variable.

If you train Mdl using a matrix, then you must provide predictor data by using X, not Tbl. The variables that make up the columns of X must have the same order as the training data.

Data Types: single | double

scoreThreshold — Threshold for anomaly score

Mdl.ScoreThreshold (default) | numeric scalar in the range (–Inf,Inf)

Threshold for the anomaly score, specified as a numeric scalar in the range (–Inf,Inf). isanomaly identifies observations with scores above the threshold as anomalies.

The default value is the ScoreThreshold property value of Mdl.

Example: ScoreThreshold=0.5

Data Types: single | double

Output Arguments

tf — Anomaly indicators

logical column vector

Anomaly indicators, returned as a logical column vector. An element of tf is true when the observation in the corresponding row of Tbl or X is an anomaly, and false otherwise. tf has the same length as Tbl or X.

isanomaly identifies observations with scores above the threshold (the scoreThreshold value) as anomalies.

scores — Anomaly scores

numeric column vector

Anomaly scores, returned as a numeric column vector whose values are in the range (–Inf,Inf). scores has the same length as Tbl or X, and each element of scores contains an anomaly score for the observation in the corresponding row of Tbl or X. A negative score value with large magnitude indicates a normal observation, and a large positive value indicates an anomaly.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• Use saveLearnerForCoder, loadLearnerForCoder, and codegen (MATLAB Coder) to generate code for the isanomaly function. Save a trained model by using saveLearnerForCoder. Define an entry-point function that loads the saved model by using loadLearnerForCoder and calls the isanomaly function. Then use codegen to generate code for the entry-point function. For an example, see Code Generation for Anomaly Detection.

• To generate single-precision C/C++ code for isanomaly, specify DataType="single" when you call the loadLearnerForCoder function.

  Strict single-precision calculations are not supported. In the generated code, single-precision inputs produce single-precision outputs. However, variables inside the function might be double-precision.

• This table contains notes about the arguments of isanomaly. Arguments not included in this table are fully supported.

  Argument	Notes and Limitations
  Tbl	The entry-point function must do the following: Accept data as arrays. Create a table from the data input arguments and specify the variable names in the table. Pass the table to isanomaly. For an example of this table workflow, see Generate Code to Classify Data in Table. For more information on using tables in code generation, see Code Generation for Tables (MATLAB Coder) and Table Limitations for Code Generation (MATLAB Coder). The number of rows, or observations, in Tbl can be a variable size, but the number of columns in Tbl must be fixed.
  X	The number of rows, or observations, in X can be a variable size, but the number of columns in X must be fixed.
  ScoreThreshold	Names in name-value arguments must be compile-time constants.
  UseParallel	This name-value argument is not supported, but the function supports parallel computation through OpenMP. The generated code of isanomaly uses parfor (MATLAB Coder) to create loops that run in parallel on supported shared-memory multicore platforms in the generated code. If your compiler does not support the Open Multiprocessing (OpenMP) application interface or you disable OpenMP library, MATLAB® Coder™ treats the parfor-loops as for-loops. To find supported compilers, see Supported Compilers. To disable OpenMP library, set the EnableOpenMP property of the configuration object to false. For details, see coder.CodeConfig (MATLAB Coder).

For more information, see Introduction to Code Generation.

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™. (since R2025a)

• isanomaly executes on a GPU if at least one of the following applies:

  • The input argument X is a gpuArray object.

  • The input argument Tbl contains gpuArray variables.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced in R2022b

R2025a: Specify gpuArray inputs (requires Parallel Computing Toolbox)

isanomaly fully supports GPU arrays.

R2023a: Generate C/C++ code for prediction

You can generate C/C++ code for the isanomaly function.