Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are computer software programs that mimic the human brain's ability to classify patterns or to make forecasts or decisions based on past experience. The development of this research area can be attributed to two factors, sufficient computer power to begin practical ANN-based research in the late 1970s and the development of back-propagation in 1986 that enabled ANN models to solve everyday business, scientific, and industrial problems. Since then, significant applications have been implemented in several fields of study, and many useful intelligent applications and systems have been developed. The objective of this paper is to generate awareness and to encourage applications development using artificial intelligence-based systems. Therefore, this paper provides basic ANN concepts, outlines steps used for ANN model development, and lists examples of engineering applications based on the use of the back-propagation paradigm conducted in Oman. The paper is intended to provide guidelines and necessary references and resources for novice individuals interested in conducting research in engineering or other fields of study using back-propagation artificial neural networks.

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are computer software programs that mimic the human brain's ability to classify patterns or to make forecasts or decisions based on past experience. The development of this research area can be attributed to two factors, sufficient computer power to begin practical...