PSO ring topology - how does it work?

Question

I know that the topology of the global optimum is searched for each particle and global for the entire swarm.

The ring, I know that there are a few neighborhoods and searched a lbest, a local optimum. My question: Is there still a global optimum in the whole swarm? And if not then how are they linked all the different neighborhoods lbest?

Can you explain to me the principle of ring topology or some helpful link?

Answer 1

Regarding PSO topologies, the idea is to form "networks" of particles that share their best location instead of using a global best location; in the ring topology, each agent has two neighbors, such that the overall network has the form of a ring (that is, there is a cycle in the topology).

Of course, if you use a topology which is not global (that is, the particle has a limited number of neighbors such as in the case of the ring), then the global optimum of the swarm is not used by the particles.

A good resource regarding PSO is the course given by Prof. Alcherio Martinoli at EPFL. Check out lecture 4 there: http://bit.ly/hvtpto.