Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization, illustrated by the Traveling Salesman Problem

The classical Particle Swarm Optimization is a powerful method to find the minimum of a numerical function, on a continuous definition domain. As some binary versions have already successfully been used, it seems quite natural to try to define a framework for a discrete PSO. In order to better understand both the power and the limits of this approach, we examine in detail how it can be used to solve the well known Traveling Salesman Problem, which is in principle very “bad” for this kind of optimization heuristic. Results show Discrete PSO is certainly not as powerful as some specific algorithms, but, on the other hand, it can easily be modified for any discrete/combinatorial problem for which we have no good specialized algorithm.

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