Particle swarm optimization with chaotic opposition-based population initialization and stochastic search technique

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a relatively new optimization algorithm that has been applied to a variety of problems. However, it may easily get trapped in a local optima when solving complex multimodal problems. To address this concerning issue, we propose a novel PSO called as CSPSO to improve the performance of PSO on complex multimodal problems in the paper. Specifically, a stochastic search technique is used to execute the exploration in PSO, so as to help the algorithm to jump out of the likely local optima. In addition, to enhance the global convergence, when producing the initial population, both opposition-based learning method and chaotic maps are employed. Moreover, numerical simulation and comparisons with some typical existing algorithms demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm.     

Chaotic catfish particle swarm optimization for solving global numerical optimization problems

Chaotic catfish particle swarm optimization (C-CatfishPSO) is a novel optimization algorithm proposed in this paper. C-CatfishPSO introduces chaotic maps into catfish particle swarm optimization (CatfishPSO), which increase the search capability of CatfishPSO via the chaos approach. Simple CatfishPSO relies on the incorporation of catfish particles into particle swarm optimization (PSO). The introduced catfish particles improve the performance of PSO considerably. Unlike other ordinary particles, the catfish particles initialize a new search from extreme points of the search space when the gbest fitness value (global optimum at each iteration) has not changed for a certain number of consecutive iterations. This results in further opportunities of finding better solutions for the swarm by guiding the entire swarm to promising new regions of the search space and accelerating the search. The introduced chaotic maps strengthen the solution quality of PSO and CatfishPSO significantly. The resulting improved PSO and CatfishPSO are called chaotic PSO (C-PSO) and chaotic CatfishPSO (C-CatfishPSO), respectively. PSO, C-PSO, CatfishPSO, C-CatfishPSO, as well as other advanced PSO procedures from the literature were extensively compared on several benchmark test functions. Statistical analysis of the experimental results indicate that the performance of C-CatfishPSO is better than the performance of PSO, C-PSO, CatfishPSO and that C-CatfishPSO is also superior to advanced PSO methods from the literature.     

Particle swarm optimization with time-varying acceleration coefficients for the multidimensional knapsack problem

The multidimensional knapsack problem (MKP) is a difficult combinatorial optimization problem, which has been proven as NP-hard problems. Various population-based search algorithms are applied to solve these problems. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is adapted in our study, which proposes two novel PSO algorithms, namely, the binary PSO with time-varying acceleration coefficients (BPSOTVAC) and the chaotic binary PSO with time-varying acceleration coefficients (CBPSOTVAC). The two proposed methods were tested using 116 benchmark problems from the OR-Library to validate and demonstrate the efficiency of these algorithms in solving multidimensional knapsack problems. The results were then compared with those in the other two existing PSO algorithms. The simulation and evaluation results showed that the proposed algorithms, BPSOTVAC and CBPSOTVAC, are superior over the other methods according to its success rate, mean absolute deviation, mean absolute percentage error, least error, and standard deviation.     

An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm combined with piecewise linear chaotic map

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) has gained increasing attention in tackling complex optimization problems. Its further superiority when hybridized with other search techniques is also shown. Chaos, with the properties of ergodicity and stochasticity, is definitely a good candidate, but currently only the well-known logistic map is prevalently used. In this paper, the performance and deficiencies of schemes coupling chaotic search into PSO are analyzed. Then, the piecewise linear chaotic map (PWLCM) is introduced to perform the chaotic search. An improved PSO algorithm combined with PWLCM (PWLCPSO) is proposed subsequently, and experimental results verify its great superiority.     

Detection of maximum loadability limits and weak buses using Chaotic PSO considering security constraints

In the current research chaotic search is used with the optimization technique for solving non-linear complicated power system problems because Chaos can overcome the local optima problem of optimization technique. Power system problem, more specifically voltage stability, is one of the practical examples of non-linear, complex, convex problems. Smart grid, restructured energy system and socio-economic development fetch various uncertain events in power systems and the level of uncertainty increases to a great extent day by day. In this context, analysis of voltage stability is essential. The efficient method to assess the voltage stability is maximum loadability limit (MLL). MLL problem is formulated as a maximization problem considering practical security constraints (SCs). Detection of weak buses is also important for the analysis of power system stability. Both MLL and weak buses are identified by PSO methods and FACTS devices can be applied to the detected weak buses for the improvement of stability. Three particle swarm optimization (PSO) techniques namely General PSO (GPSO), Adaptive PSO (APSO) and Chaotic PSO (CPSO) are presented for the comparative study with obtaining MLL and weak buses under different SCs. In APSO method, PSO-parameters are made adaptive with the problem and chaos is incorporated in CPSO method to obtain reliable convergence and better performances. All three methods are applied on standard IEEE 14 bus, 30 bus, 57 bus and 118 bus test systems to show their comparative computing effectiveness and optimization efficiencies.     

Dynamic guiding particle swarm optimization with embedded chaotic search for solving multidimensional problems

The proposed approach incorporated dynamic guiding approach and chaotic search procedure into particle swarm optimization (PSO), named DCPSO. Chaotic search, enjoyed ergodicity, irregularity and pseudo-randomness in PSO, would refine global best position evidently. And, dynamic guiding approach with fluctuating property would easily conduct unpredictable migrations for PSO to break away from evolutionary stagnation. The experiment reports indicated that the proposed DCPSO approach could improve the evolution performance significantly, and present the superiority in solving complex multidimensional problems.     

Particle swarm optimization: Hybridization perspectives and experimental illustrations

Metaheuristic optimization algorithms have become popular choice for solving complex and intricate problems which are otherwise difficult to solve by traditional methods. In the present study an attempt is made to review the hybrid optimization techniques in which one main algorithm is a well known metaheuristic; particle swarm optimization or PSO. Hybridization is a method of combining two (or more) techniques in a judicious manner such that the resulting algorithm contains the positive features of both (or all) the algorithms. Depending on the algorithm/s used we made three classifications as (i) Hybridization of PSO and genetic algorithms (ii) Hybridization of PSO with differential evolution and (iii) Hybridization of PSO with other techniques. Where, other techniques include various local and global search methods. Besides giving the review we also show a comparison of three hybrid PSO algorithms; hybrid differential evolution particle swarm optimization (DE-PSO), adaptive mutation particle swarm optimization (AMPSO) and hybrid genetic algorithm particle swarm optimization (GA-PSO) on a test suite of nine conventional benchmark problems.     

Enhancing PSO methods for global optimization

The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method is a well-established technique for global optimization. During the past years several variations of the original PSO have been proposed in the relevant literature. Because of the increasing necessity in global optimization methods in almost all fields of science there is a great demand for efficient and fast implementations of relative algorithms. In this work we propose three modifications of the original PSO method in order to increase the speed and its efficiency that can be applied independently in almost every PSO variant. These modifications are: (a) a new stopping rule, (b) a similarity check and (c) a conditional application of some local search method. The proposed were tested using three popular PSO variants and a variety test functions. We have found that the application of these modifications resulted in significant gain in speed and efficiency.     

Firefly algorithm with chaos

A recently developed metaheuristic optimization algorithm, firefly algorithm (FA), mimics the social behavior of fireflies based on the flashing and attraction characteristics of fireflies. In the present study, we will introduce chaos into FA so as to increase its global search mobility for robust global optimization. Detailed studies are carried out on benchmark problems with different chaotic maps. Here, 12 different chaotic maps are utilized to tune the attractive movement of the fireflies in the algorithm. The results show that some chaotic FAs can clearly outperform the standard FA.     

Hybridizing local search algorithms for global optimization

In this paper, we combine two types of local search algorithms for global optimization of continuous functions. In the literature, most of the hybrid algorithms are produced by combination of a global optimization algorithm with a local search algorithm and the local search is used to improve the solution quality, not to explore the search space to find independently the global optimum. The focus of this research is on some simple and efficient hybrid algorithms by combining the Nelder–Mead simplex (NM) variants and the bidirectional random optimization (BRO) methods for optimization of continuous functions. The NM explores the whole search space to find some promising areas and then the BRO local search is entered to exploit optimal solution as accurately as possible. Also a new strategy for shrinkage stage borrowed from differential evolution (DE) is incorporated in the NM variants. To examine the efficiency of proposed algorithms, those are evaluated by 25 benchmark functions designed for the special session on real-parameter optimization of CEC2005. A comparison study between the hybrid algorithms and some DE algorithms and non-parametric analysis of obtained results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms outperform most of other algorithms and their difference in most cases is statistically considerable. In a later part of the comparative experiments, a comparison of the proposed algorithms with some other evolutionary algorithms reported in the CEC2005 confirms a better performance of our proposed algorithms.     

Chaos optimization algorithms based on chaotic maps with different probability distribution and search speed for global optimization

Chaos optimization algorithms (COAs) usually utilize the chaotic map like Logistic map to generate the pseudo-random numbers mapped as the design variables for global optimization. Many existing researches indicated that COA can more easily escape from the local minima than classical stochastic optimization algorithms. This paper reveals the inherent mechanism of high efficiency and superior performance of COA, from a new perspective of both the probability distribution property and search speed of chaotic sequences generated by different chaotic maps. The statistical property and search speed of chaotic sequences are represented by the probability density function (PDF) and the Lyapunov exponent, respectively. Meanwhile, the computational performances of hybrid chaos-BFGS algorithms based on eight one-dimensional chaotic maps with different PDF and Lyapunov exponents are compared, in which BFGS is a quasi-Newton method for local optimization. Moreover, several multimodal benchmark examples illustrate that, the probability distribution property and search speed of chaotic sequences from different chaotic maps significantly affect the global searching capability and optimization efficiency of COA. To achieve the high efficiency of COA, it is recommended to adopt the appropriate chaotic map generating the desired chaotic sequences with uniform or nearly uniform probability distribution and large Lyapunov exponent.     

Improved particle swarm optimization combined with chaos

As a novel optimization technique, chaos has gained much attention and some applications during the past decade. For a given energy or cost function, by following chaotic ergodic orbits, a chaotic dynamic system may eventually reach the global optimum or its good approximation with high probability. To enhance the performance of particle swarm optimization (PSO), which is an evolutionary computation technique through individual improvement plus population cooperation and competition, hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed by incorporating chaos. Firstly, adaptive inertia weight factor (AIWF) is introduced in PSO to efficiently balance the exploration and exploitation abilities. Secondly, PSO with AIWF and chaos are hybridized to form a chaotic PSO (CPSO), which reasonably combines the population-based evolutionary searching ability of PSO and chaotic searching behavior. Simulation results and comparisons with the standard PSO and several meta-heuristics show that the CPSO can effectively enhance the searching efficiency and greatly improve the searching quality.     

An improved artificial bee colony algorithm for directing orbits of chaotic systems

Artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) is a relatively new optimization technique which has been shown to be competitive to other population-based algorithms. However, there is still an insufficiency in ABC regarding its solution search equation, which is good at exploration but poor at exploitation. To address this concerning issue, we propose an improved ABC (IABC) by using a modified search strategy to generate a new food source in order that the exploration and exploitation can be well balanced and satisfactory optimization performances can be achieved. In addition, to enhance the global convergence, when producing the initial population, both opposition-based learning method and chaotic maps are employed. In this paper, the proposed algorithm is applied to control and synchronization of discrete chaotic systems which can be formulated as both multimodal numerical optimization problems with high dimension. Numerical simulation and comparisons with some typical existing algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach.     

Chaotic bat algorithm

Bat algorithm (BA) is a recent metaheuristic optimization algorithm proposed by Yang. In the present study, we have introduced chaos into BA so as to increase its global search mobility for robust global optimization. Detailed studies have been carried out on benchmark problems with different chaotic maps. Here, four different variants of chaotic BA are introduced and thirteen different chaotic maps are utilized for validating each of these four variants. The results show that some variants of chaotic BAs can clearly outperform the standard BA for these benchmarks.     

A dynamic global and local combined particle swarm optimization algorithm

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm has been developing rapidly and many results have been reported. PSO algorithm has shown some important advantages by providing high speed of convergence in specific problems, but it has a tendency to get stuck in a near optimal solution and one may find it difficult to improve solution accuracy by fine tuning. This paper presents a dynamic global and local combined particle swarm optimization (DGLCPSO) algorithm to improve the performance of original PSO, in which all particles dynamically share the best information of the local particle, global particle and group particles. It is tested with a set of eight benchmark functions with different dimensions and compared with original PSO. Experimental results indicate that the DGLCPSO algorithm improves the search performance on the benchmark functions significantly, and shows the effectiveness of the algorithm to solve optimization problems.     

A rank based particle swarm optimization algorithm with dynamic adaptation

The particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is a powerful stochastic evolutionary algorithm that can be used to find the global optimum solution in a complex search space. This paper presents a variation on the standard PSO algorithm called the rank based particle swarm optimizer, or PSO_rank, employing cooperative behavior of the particles to significantly improve the performance of the original algorithm. In this method, in order to efficiently control the local search and convergence to global optimum solution, the γ best particles are taken to contribute to the updating of the position of a candidate particle. The contribution of each particle is proportional to its strength. The strength is a function of three parameters: strivness, immediacy and number of contributed particles. All particles are sorted according to their fitness values, and only the γ best particles will be selected. The value of γ decreases linearly as the iteration increases. A time-varying inertia weight decreasing non-linearly is introduced to improve the performance. PSO_rank is tested on a commonly used set of optimization problems and is compared to other variants of the PSO algorithm presented in the literature. As a real application, PSO_rank is used for neural network training. The PSO_rank strategy outperformed all the methods considered in this investigation for most of the functions. Experimental results show the suitability of the proposed algorithm in terms of effectiveness and robustness.     

A novel chaotic particle swarm optimization approach using Hénon map and implicit filtering local search for economic load dispatch

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based swarm intelligence algorithm driven by the simulation of a social psychological metaphor instead of the survival of the fittest individual. Based on the chaotic systems theory, this paper proposed a novel chaotic PSO combined with an implicit filtering (IF) local search method to solve economic dispatch problems. Since chaotic mapping enjoys certainty, ergodicity and the stochastic property, the proposed PSO introduces chaos mapping using Hénon map sequences which increases its convergence rate and resulting precision. The chaotic PSO approach is used to produce good potential solutions, and the IF is used to fine-tune of final solution of PSO. The hybrid methodology is validated for a test system consisting of 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. Simulation results are promising and show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

A global best artificial bee colony algorithm for global optimization

The artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is a relatively new optimization technique which has been shown to be competitive to other population-based algorithms. However, there is still an insufficiency in the ABC algorithm regarding its solution search equation, which is good at exploration but poor at exploitation. Inspired by differential evolution (DE), we propose a modified ABC algorithm (denoted as ABC/best), which is based on that each bee searches only around the best solution of the previous iteration in order to improve the exploitation. In addition, to enhance the global convergence, when producing the initial population and scout bees, both chaotic systems and opposition-based learning method are employed. Experiments are conducted on a set of 26 benchmark functions. The results demonstrate good performance of ABC/best in solving complex numerical optimization problems when compared with two ABC based algorithms.     

Integrating particle swarm optimization with genetic algorithms for solving nonlinear optimization problems

Heuristic optimization provides a robust and efficient approach for solving complex real-world problems. The aim of this paper is to introduce a hybrid approach combining two heuristic optimization techniques, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithms (GA). Our approach integrates the merits of both GA and PSO and it has two characteristic features. Firstly, the algorithm is initialized by a set of random particles which travel through the search space. During this travel an evolution of these particles is performed by integrating PSO and GA. Secondly, to restrict velocity of the particles and control it, we introduce a modified constriction factor. Finally, the results of various experimental studies using a suite of multimodal test functions taken from the literature have demonstrated the superiority of the proposed approach to finding the global optimal solution.     

On the convergence of a generalized Reduced gradient algorithm for nonlinear programming problems

Despite of their excellent numerical performance for solving practical nonlinear programming problems, the theoretical convergence behavior of generalized reduced gradient algorithms has been investigated very seldom in the literature. One specific class of generalized reduced gradient methods will be presented for which a global convergence result can be shown, i.e. the approximation of a Kuhn-Tucker point starting from arbitrary initial values. The relationship of the proposed variant with some other versions of generalized reduced gradient algorithms will be discussed.