Multiobjective fuzzy clustering approach based on tissue-like membrane systems

•We develop a multiobjective clustering framework to deal with fuzzy clustering problem.•We design a tissue-like membrane system with a special cell structure, including evolution cells and memory cells.•We develop a modified differential evolution rule for object evolution. Fuzzy clustering problem is usually posed as an optimization problem. However, the existing research has shown that clustering technique that optimizes a single cluster validity index may not provide satisfactory results on different kinds of data sets. This paper proposes a multiobjective clustering framework for fuzzy clustering, in which a tissue-like membrane system with a special cell structure is designed to integrate a non-dominated sorting technique and a modified differential evolution mechanism. Based on the multiobjective clustering framework, a fuzzy clustering approach is realized to optimize three cluster validity indices that can capture different characteristics. The proposed approach is evaluated on six artificial and ten real-life data sets and is compared with several multiobjective and singleobjective techniques. The comparison results demonstrate the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed approach on clustering the data sets with different characteristics.