Integrating the focusing neuron model with N-BEATS and N-HiTS

The N-BEATS (Neural Basis Expansion Analysis for Time Series) model is a robust deep learning architecture designed specifically for time series forecasting. Its foundational idea lies in the use of a generic, interpretable architecture that leverages backward and forward residual links to predict time series data effectively. N - BEATS influenced the development of N-HiTS (Neural Hierarchical Interpretable Time Series), which builds upon and extends the foundational ideas of N-BEATS. This paper introduces new integrations to enhance these models using the Focusing Neuron model in blocks of N-BEATS and N-HiTS instead of Fully Connected (Dense) Neurons. The integration aims to improve the forward and backward forecasting processes in the blocks by facilitating the learning of parametric local receptive fields. Preliminary results indicate that this new usage can significantly improve model performances on datasets that have longer sequences, providing a promising direction for future advancements in N-BEATS and N-HiTS.