Particles prefer walking along the axes
Manuel Schmitt, Rolf Wanka · 2013
We study the frequently observed phenomenon of stagnation in the context of particle swarm optimization (PSO). We show that in certain situations the particle swarm is likely to move almost parallel to one of the axes, which may cause stagnation. We provide an experimentally supported explanation in terms of a potential of the swarm and are therefore able to adapt the PSO algorithm slightly such that this weakness can be avoided.