A multi-sample particle swarm optimization algorithm based on electric field force

<abstract><p>Aiming at the premature convergence problem of particle swarm optimization algorithm, a multi-sample particle swarm optimization (MSPSO) algorithm based on electric field force is proposed. Firstly, we introduce the concept of the electric field into the particle swarm optimization algorithm. The particles are affected by the electric field force, which makes the particles exhibit diverse behaviors. Secondly, MSPSO constructs multiple samples through two new strategies to guide particle learning. An electric field force-based comprehensive learning strategy (EFCLS) is proposed to build attractive samples and repulsive samples, thus improving search efficiency. To further enhance the convergence accuracy of the algorithm, a segment-based weighted learning strategy (SWLS) is employed to construct a global learning sample so that the particles learn more comprehensive information. In addition, the parameters of the model are adjusted adaptively to adapt to the population status in different periods. We have verified the effectiveness of these newly proposed strategies through experiments. Sixteen benchmark functions and eight well-known particle swarm optimization algorithm variants are employed to prove the superiority of MSPSO. The comparison results show that MSPSO has better performance in terms of accuracy, especially for high-dimensional spaces, while maintaining a faster convergence rate. Besides, a real-world problem also verified that MSPSO has practical application value.</p></abstract>