Swarm Intelligence in Optimization

Optimization techniques inspired by swarm intelligence have become increasingly popular during the last decade. They are characterized by a decentralized way of working that mimics the behavior of swarms of social insects, flocks of birds, or schools of fish. The advantage of these approaches over traditional techniques is their robustness and flexibility. These properties make swarm intelligence a successful design paradigm for algorithms that deal with increasingly complex problems. In this chapter we focus on two of the most successful examples of optimization techniques inspired by swarm intelligence: ant colony optimization and particle swarm optimization. Ant colony optimization was introduced as a technique for combinatorial optimization in the early 1990s. The inspiring source of ant colony optimization is the foraging behavior of real ant colonies. In addition, particle swarm optimization was introduced for continuous optimization in the mid-1990s, inspired by bird flocking.