Constrained self regulating particle swarm optimization

Abstract

Self regulating particle swarm optimization (SRPSO) is a variant of particle swarm optimization (PSO) which has proved to be a very efficient algorithm for unconstrained optimization compared with other evolutionary algorithms (EAs) and utilized recently by the researchers for solving real-world problems. However, SRPSO has not been evaluated and analyzed for constrained optimization. In this work, SRPSO has been evaluated exhaustively for constrained optimization using the 24 constrained benchmark problems by coupling it with four efficient constraint handling techniques (CHTs). The results of constrained SRPSO algorithm have been compared with two other algorithms i.e. Differential evolution (DE) and PSO. DE and PSO have also been coupled with same four CHTs and evaluated on the 24 constrained benchmark problems. Statistical analysis on performance evaluation of three algorithms on the benchmark problems shows that constrained SRPSO algorithm performance is better than constrained PSO but it is found to be deficient when compared with constrained DE with 95% confidence level. Therefore, the objective of this work is to evaluate the SRPSO algorithm comprehensively for constrained optimization with different views to come up with suitability of constrained SRPSO algorithm when coupled with particular CHT for solving specific type of problems.