An Improved Population-Based Incremental Learning Algorithm

Abstract

Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) is a relatively new class of Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) that has been recently applied to a range of optimization problems in engineering with promising results. PBIL combines aspects of Genetic Algorithm with competitive learning. The learning rate in the standard PBIL is generally fixed which makes it difficult for the algorithm to explore the search space effectively. In this paper, a PBIL with adapting learning rate is proposed. The Adaptive PBIL (APBIL) is able to thoroughly explore the search space at the start of the run and maintain the diversity consistently during the run longer than the standard PBIL. The proposed algorithm is validated by applying it to power system controller parameters optimization problem. Simulation results show that the Adaptive PBIL based controller performs better than the standard PBIL based controller, in particular under small disturbance.