Efficiency Analysis of Swarm Intelligence and Randomization Techniques

Swarm intelligence has becoming a powerful technique in solving design and scheduling tasks. Metaheuristic algorithms are an integrated part of this paradigm, and particle swarm optimization is often viewed as an important landmark. The outstanding performance and efficiency of swarm-based algorithms inspired many new developments, though mathematical understanding of metaheuristics remains partly a mystery. In contrast to the classic deterministic algorithms, metaheuristics such as PSO always use some form of randomness, and such randomization now employs various techniques. This paper intends to review and analyze some of the convergence and efficiency associated with metaheuristics such as firefly algorithm, random walks, and L\'evy flights. We will discuss how these techniques are used and their implications for further research.Comment: 10 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1212.0220, arXiv:1208.0527, arXiv:1003.146

Detecting compact galactic binaries using a hybrid swarm-based algorithm

Compact binaries in our galaxy are expected to be one of the main sources of gravitational waves for the future eLISA mission. During the mission lifetime, many thousands of galactic binaries should be individually resolved. However, the identification of the sources, and the extraction of the signal parameters in a noisy environment are real challenges for data analysis. So far, stochastic searches have proven to be the most successful for this problem. In this work we present the first application of a swarm-based algorithm combining Particle Swarm Optimization and Differential Evolution. These algorithms have been shown to converge faster to global solutions on complicated likelihood surfaces than other stochastic methods. We first demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm for the case of a single binary in a 1 mHz search bandwidth. This interesting problem gave the algorithm plenty of opportunity to fail, as it can be easier to find a strong noise peak rather than the signal itself. After a successful detection of a fictitious low-frequency source, as well as the verification binary RXJ0806.3+1527, we then applied the algorithm to the detection of multiple binaries, over different search bandwidths, in the cases of low and mild source confusion. In all cases, we show that we can successfully identify the sources, and recover the true parameters within a 99\% credible interval.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Parameters identification of unknown delayed genetic regulatory networks by a switching particle swarm optimization algorithm

The official published version can be found at the link below.This paper presents a novel particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm based on Markov chains and competitive penalized method. Such an algorithm is developed to solve global optimization problems with applications in identifying unknown parameters of a class of genetic regulatory networks (GRNs). By using an evolutionary factor, a new switching PSO (SPSO) algorithm is first proposed and analyzed, where the velocity updating equation jumps from one mode to another according to a Markov chain, and acceleration coefficients are dependent on mode switching. Furthermore, a leader competitive penalized multi-learning approach (LCPMLA) is introduced to improve the global search ability and refine the convergent solutions. The LCPMLA can automatically choose search strategy using a learning and penalizing mechanism. The presented SPSO algorithm is compared with some well-known PSO algorithms in the experiments. It is shown that the SPSO algorithm has faster local convergence speed, higher accuracy and algorithm reliability, resulting in better balance between the global and local searching of the algorithm, and thus generating good performance. Finally, we utilize the presented SPSO algorithm to identify not only the unknown parameters but also the coupling topology and time-delay of a class of GRNs.This research was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of PR China (Grant No. 60874113), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (Grant No. 200802550007), the Key Creative Project of Shanghai Education Community (Grant No. 09ZZ66), the Key Foundation Project of Shanghai (Grant No. 09JC1400700), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC of the UK under Grant No. GR/S27658/01, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Project of China under Grant No. 2009DFA32050, an International Joint Project sponsored by the Royal Society of the UK, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

Vigilant Salp Swarm Algorithm for Feature Selection

Feature selection (FS) averts the consideration of unwanted features which may tend the classification algorithm to classify wrongly. Choosing an optimal feature subset from the given set of features is challenging due to the complex associations present within the features. In non-convex conditions, the gradient-based algorithms suffer due to local optima or saddle points with respect to initial conditions where swarm intelligence algorithms pose a higher chance to converge over the global optima. The Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) proposed by Mirjalili et al. is based on the chaining behaviour of sea salps but the algorithm lacks diversity in the exploration stage. Rectifying the exploratory behaviour and testing the algorithm against the FS problem is the motivation behind this work. Three variants of the algorithm are proposed, of which the Vigilant Salp Swarm Algorithm (VSSA) inherits the vigilant mechanism in Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), the second variant and the third variant replace a simple crossover operator and shuffle crossover operator instead of the follower's position update mechanism used in the VSSA to form Vanilla Crossover VSSA (VCVSSA) and Shuffle Crossover VSSA (SCVSSA)

Military and Security Applications: Cybersecurity (Encyclopedia of Optimization, Third Edition)

The domain of cybersecurity is growing as part of broader military and security applications, and the capabilities and processes in this realm have qualities and characteristics that warrant using solution methods in mathematical optimization. Problems of interest may involve continuous or discrete variables, a convex or non-convex decision space, differing levels of uncertainty, and constrained or unconstrained frameworks. Cyberattacks, for example, can be modeled using hierarchical threat structures and may involve decision strategies from both an organization or individual and the adversary. Network traffic flow, intrusion detection and prevention systems, interconnected human-machine interfaces, and automated systems – these all require higher levels of complexity in mathematical optimization modeling and analysis. Attributes such as cyber resiliency, network adaptability, security capability, and information technology flexibility – these require the measurement of multiple characteristics, many of which may involve both quantitative and qualitative interpretations. And for nearly every organization that is invested in some cybersecurity practice, decisions must be made that involve the competing objectives of cost, risk, and performance. As such, mathematical optimization has been widely used and accepted to model important and complex decision problems, providing analytical evidence for helping drive decision outcomes in cybersecurity applications. In the paragraphs that follow, this chapter highlights some of the recent mathematical optimization research in the body of knowledge applied to the cybersecurity space. The subsequent literature discussed fits within a broader cybersecurity domain taxonomy considering the categories of analyze, collect and operate, investigate, operate and maintain, oversee and govern, protect and defend, and securely provision. Further, the paragraphs are structured around generalized mathematical optimization categories to provide a lens to summarize the existing literature, including uncertainty (stochastic programming, robust optimization, etc.), discrete (integer programming, multiobjective, etc.), continuous-unconstrained (nonlinear least squares, etc.), continuous-constrained (global optimization, etc.), and continuous-constrained (nonlinear programming, network optimization, linear programming, etc.). At the conclusion of this chapter, research implications and extensions are offered to the reader that desires to pursue further mathematical optimization research for cybersecurity within a broader military and security applications context

Data-intensive service provision based on particle swarm optimization

© 2018, the Authors. The data-intensive service provision is characterized by the large of scale of services and data and also the high-dimensions of QoS. However, most of the existing works failed to take into account the characteristics of data-intensive services and the effect of the big data sets on the whole performance of service provision. There are many new challenges for service provision, especially in terms of autonomy, scalability, adaptability, and robustness. In this paper, we will propose a discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm to resolve the data-intensive service provision problem. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, we compared it with an ant colony optimization algorithm and a genetic algorithm with respect to three performance metrics

Spatio-Temporal Patterns act as Computational Mechanisms governing Emergent behavior in Robotic Swarms

open access articleOur goal is to control a robotic swarm without removing its swarm-like nature. In other words, we aim to intrinsically control a robotic swarm emergent behavior. Past attempts at governing robotic swarms or their selfcoordinating emergent behavior, has proven ineffective, largely due to the swarm’s inherent randomness (making it difficult to predict) and utter simplicity (they lack a leader, any kind of centralized control, long-range communication, global knowledge, complex internal models and only operate on a couple of basic, reactive rules). The main problem is that emergent phenomena itself is not fully understood, despite being at the forefront of current research. Research into 1D and 2D Cellular Automata has uncovered a hidden computational layer which bridges the micromacro gap (i.e., how individual behaviors at the micro-level influence the global behaviors on the macro-level). We hypothesize that there also lie embedded computational mechanisms at the heart of a robotic swarm’s emergent behavior. To test this theory, we proceeded to simulate robotic swarms (represented as both particles and dynamic networks) and then designed local rules to induce various types of intelligent, emergent behaviors (as well as designing genetic algorithms to evolve robotic swarms with emergent behaviors). Finally, we analysed these robotic swarms and successfully confirmed our hypothesis; analyzing their developments and interactions over time revealed various forms of embedded spatiotemporal patterns which store, propagate and parallel process information across the swarm according to some internal, collision-based logic (solving the mystery of how simple robots are able to self-coordinate and allow global behaviors to emerge across the swarm)