The direction of family particle swarm optimization

In our previous study, the family particle swarm optimization (FPSO) was proposed. In this study, we investigate the direction of the FPSO. To improve particles' abilities of moving to the global optimization position and to accelerate the convergence of FPSO, we defined the direction coefficient and proposed the directional FPSO (d-FPSO). In a family, the flight of a particle referred to the flying directions of other particles. Simulations for six benchmark functions demonstrated that with the proposed direction coefficient particles had stronger intelligence and the convergence speed was increased. Therefore, the directions of particles had very important meaning of guidance.