An Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Global Multidimensional Optimization

This paper introduces a new variant of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, designed for global optimization of multidimensional functions. The goal of this variant, called ImPSO, is to improve the exploration and exploitation abilities of the algorithm by introducing a new operation in the iterative search process. The use of this operation is governed by a stochastic rule that ensures either the exploration of new regions of the search space or the exploitation of good intermediate solutions. The proposed method is inspired by collaborative human learning and uses as a starting point a basic PSO variant with constriction factor and velocity clamping. Simulation results that show the ability of ImPSO to locate the global optima of multidimensional functions are presented for 10 well-know benchmark functions from CEC-2013 and CEC-2005. These results are compared with the PSO variant used as starting point, three other PSO variants, one of which is based on human learning strategies, and three alternative evolutionary computing methods.