The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm application – A review

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is one of the concepts of swarm intelligence inspired by studies in neurosciences, cognitive psychology, social ethology and behavioural sciences, introduced in the domain of computing and artificial intelligence as an innovative collective and distributed intelligent paradigm for solving problems, mostly in the domain of optimization, without centralized control or the provision of a global model. The PSO method has roots in genetic algorithms and evolution strategies and shares many similarities with evolutionary computing such as random generation of populations at system initialization or updating generations at optima search. This paper presents an extensive literature review on the concept of PSO, its application to different systems including electric power systems, modifications of the basic PSO to improve its premature convergence, and its combination with other intelligent algorithms to improve search capacity and reduce the time spent to come out of local optimums.