A sequential quadratic programming based strategy for particle swarm optimization on single-objective numerical optimization

Abstract Over the last decade, particle swarm optimization has become increasingly sophisticated because well-balanced exploration and exploitation mechanisms have been proposed. The sequential quadratic programming method, which is widely used for real-parameter optimization problems, demonstrates its outstanding local search capability. In this study, two mechanisms are proposed and integrated into particle swarm optimization for single-objective numerical optimization. A novel ratio adaptation scheme is utilized for calculating the proportion of subpopulations and intermittently invoking the sequential quadratic programming for local search start from the best particle to seek a better solution. The novel particle swarm optimization variant was validated on CEC2013, CEC2014, and CEC2017 benchmark functions. The experimental results demonstrate impressive performance compared with the state-of-the-art particle swarm optimization-based algorithms. Furthermore, the results also illustrate the effectiveness of the two mechanisms when cooperating to achieve significant improvement.