Improving the Convergence of the PSO Algorithm with a Stagnation Variable and Fuzzy Logic

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is essential to evolutionary computation algorithms (ECA). The PSO has some drawbacks as premature convergence and stagnation at local minima. Inertia weight is a parameter that controls the global and local exploration and exploitation capability in the PSO by determining the influence of the previous velocity on its current motion. This article proposes using a stagnation counter that verifies the times the PSO is stuck in the same fitness value. In the proposed fuzzy controlled PSO with stagnation coefficient (FCPSO), a fuzzy controller is designed to tune the inertia weight based on the population's diversity and the search's stagnation. This modification allows the PSO to escape from suboptimal values enhancing its search capabilities. The FCPSO is tested over 28 benchmark functions in 50 dimensions. Besides, it has been compared with nine optimization algorithms from the state-of-the-art. The experiments and comparisons suggest that the FCPSO is an interesting tool for solving complex optimization problems.