6 research outputs found

    Optimisation algorithms inspired from modelling of bacterial foraging patterns and their applications

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    Research in biologically-inspired optimisation has been fl<;lurishing over the past decades. This approach adopts a bott0!ll-up viewpoint to understand and mimic certain features of a biological system. It has been proved useful in developing nondeterministic algorithms, such as Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) and Swarm Intelligence (SI). Bacteria, as the simplest creature in nature, are of particular interest in recent studies. In the past thousands of millions of years, bacteria have exhibited a self-organising behaviour to cope with the natural selection. For example, bacteria have developed a number of strategies to search for food sources with a very efficient manner. This thesis explores the potential of understanding of a biological system by modelling the' underlying mechanisms of bacterial foraging patterns and investigates their applicability to engineering optimisation problems. :rvlodelling plays a significant role in understanding bacterial foraging behaviour. Mathematical expressions and experimental observations have been utilised to represent biological systems. However, difficulties arise from the lack of systematic analysis of the developed models and experimental data. Recently, Systems Biology has be,en proposed to overcome this barrier, with the effort from a number of research fields, including Computer Science and Systems Engineering. At the same time, Individual-based Modelling (IbM) has emerged to assist the modelling of a biological system. Starting from a basic model of foraging and proliferation of bacteria, the development of an IbM of bacterial systems of this thesis focuses on a Varying Environment BActerial Model (VEBAM). Simulation results demonstrate that VEBAM is able to provide a new perspective to describe interactions between the bacteria and their food environment. Knowledge transfer from modelling of bacterial systems to solving optimisation problems also composes an important part of this study. Three Bacteriainspired Algorithms (BalAs) have been developed to bridge the gap between modelling and optimisation. These algorithms make use of the. self-adaptability of individual bacteria in the group searching activities described in VEBAM, while incorporating a variety of additional features. In particular, the new bacterial foraging algorithm with varying population (BFAVP) takes bacterial metabolism into consideration. The group behaviour in Particle Swarm Optimiser (PSO) is adopted in Bacterial Swarming Algorithm (BSA) to enhance searching ability. To reduce computational time, another algorithm, a Paired-bacteria Optimiser (PBO) is designed specifically to further explore the capability of BalAs. Simulation studies undertaken against a wide range of benchmark functions demonstrate a satisfying performance with a reasonable convergence speed. To explore the potential of bacterial searching ability in optimisation undertaken in a varying environment, a dynamic bacterial foraging algorithm (DBFA) is developed with the aim of solving optimisation in a time-varying environment. In this case, the balance between its convergence and exploration abilities is investigated, and a new scheme of reproduction is developed which is different froin that used for static optimisation problems. The simulation studies have been undertaken and the results show that the DBFA can adapt to various environmental changes rapidly. One of the challenging large-scale complex optimisation problems is optimal power flow (OPF) computation. BFAVP shows its advantage in solving this problem. A simulation study has been performed on an IEEE 30-bus system, and the results are compared with PSO algorithm and Fast Evolutionary Programming (FEP) algorithm, respectively. Furthermore, the OPF problem is extended for consideration in varying environments, on which DBFA has been evaluated. A simulation study has been undertaken on both the IEEE 30-bus system and the IEEE l1S-bus system, in compariso~ with a number of existing algorithms. The dynamic OPF problem has been tackled for the first time in the area of power systems, and the results obtained are encouraging, with a significant amount of energy could possibly being saved. Another application of BaIA in this thesis is concerned with estimating optimal parameters of a power transformer winding model using BSA. Compared with Genetic Algorithm (GA), BSA is able to obtain a more satisfying result in modelling the transformer winding, which could not be achieved using a theoretical transfer function model

    Particle Swarm Optimization

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    Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population based stochastic optimization technique influenced by the social behavior of bird flocking or fish schooling.PSO shares many similarities with evolutionary computation techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (GA). The system is initialized with a population of random solutions and searches for optima by updating generations. However, unlike GA, PSO has no evolution operators such as crossover and mutation. In PSO, the potential solutions, called particles, fly through the problem space by following the current optimum particles. This book represents the contributions of the top researchers in this field and will serve as a valuable tool for professionals in this interdisciplinary field

    Dimensionamento de transformadores de distribuição recorrendo a técnicas heurísticas

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    Dissertação para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Eletrotécnica – Ramo de EnergiaOs transformadores têm um papel chave nas redes energéticas. A sua construção e design deve considerar vários aspetos, tais como limitações técnicas e legais, limitações de segurança e o custo de construção. Considerando apenas as componentes ativas do transformador é possível identificar 20 parâmetros específicos do fabrico, e do ponto de vista económico, 13 variáveis também são consideradas. Utilizando uma abordagem clássica, as variáveis são escolhidas tendo em conta as restrições impostas, seguidas de uma análise de sensibilidade feita a cada variável, para otimizar o custo de fabrico. Este processo pode ser demorado e o ótimo pode não ser encontrado. Nesta dissertação utilizam-se algoritmos genéticos na solução deste problema. É utilizada uma abordagem inovadora através da introdução do conceito de compensação genética no operador da mutação. Os resultados mostram um aumento de performance e convergência comparativamente à abordagem com algoritmos genéticos na versão original.Power transformers have a key role in the power system grids. Their manufacturing and design must consider several aspects, such as technical limits, legal constrains, security constrains and manufacturing price. Considering only power transformers’ active parts, it is possible to identify 20 manufacturing specific parameters, and in economic point of view, 13 variables are also considered. Using a classic approach, variables are chosen accordingly with the defined constraints, followed by a sensitivity analysis preformed to each variable, to optimize the manufacturing cost. This procedure can be time consuming, and the optimum may not be reached. In this thesis, genetic algorithms are used. An innovative approach through the introduction of genetic compensation concept in mutation operator is detailed. Results pointed out an increased performance and consistency when compared with the genetic algorithm generic approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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