An Improved Physics-Informed Neural Network Approach for Solving the FitzHugh–Nagumo Equation

The FitzHugh–Nagumo (FHN) equation in one dimension is solved in this paper using an improved physics-informed neural network (PINN) approach. Examining test problems with known analytical solutions and the explicit finite difference method (EFDM) allowed for the demonstration of the PINN’s effectiveness. Our study presents an improved PINN formulation tailored to the FitzHugh–Nagumo reaction–diffusion system. The proposed framework is efficiently designed, validated, and systematically optimized, demonstrating that a careful balance among model complexity, collocation density, and training strategy enables high accuracy within limited computational time. Despite the very strong agreement that both methods provide, we have demonstrated that the PINN results exhibit a closer agreement with the analytical solutions for Test Problem 1, whereas the EFDM yielded more accurate results for Test Problem 2. This study is crucial for evaluating the PINN’s performance in solving the FHN equation and its application to nonlinear processes like pulse propagation in optical fibers, drug delivery, neural behavior, geophysical fluid dynamics, and long-wave propagation in oceans, highlighting the potential of PINNs for complex systems. Numerical models for this class of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) may be developed by existing and future model creators of a wide range of various nonlinear physical processes in the physical and engineering sectors using the concepts of the solution methods employed in this study.