Small-world phenomenon for function optimization

Inspired by the mechanism of small-world phenomenon, some small-world optimization operators, mainly including the local short-range searching operator and random long-range searching operator, were constructed. The optimization was considered as a process where information transmits from candidate solution to optimal solution in search space (networks). And a new optimization algorithm, small world optimization algorithm (SWOA), was explored on the basis of the effective information transmission mechanism of the small-world phenomenon. Compared with the corresponding genetic algorithms, the simulated results of some complex functions optimization indicate that SWOA enables to enhance the diversity of the population with a higher convergence rate and avoid the prematurity and genetic algorithm deceptive problem to some extent.