Particle swarm optimization with genetic recombination: a hybrid evolutionary algorithm

This article presents a hybrid evolutionary algorithm (HEA) based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) and a real-coded genetic algorithm (GA). In the HEA, PSO is used to update the solution, and a genetic recombination operator is added to produce offspring individuals based on the parents, which are selected in proportion to their relative fitness. Through the recombination, new offspring enter the population, and individuals with poor fitness are eliminated. The performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm is compared with those of the original PSO and GA, and the impact of the recombination probability on the performance of the HEA is also analyzed. Various simulations of multivariable functions and neural network optimizations are carried out, showing that the proposed approach gives a superior performance to the canonical means, as well as a good balance between exploration and exploitation.