Particle Swarm Algorithm for Weighted Rectangle Placement

In this paper we present a new algorithm for a layout optimization problem: this concerns the placement of rectangular, weighted objects inside a circular container, the two objectives being to minimize imbalance of mass and to minimize the radius of the container. This problem carries real practical significance in industrial applications (such as the design of satellites), as well as being of significant theoretical interest. Previous work has dealt almost exclusively with purely circular objects, but here we deal with the much more realistic case where objects are rectangular. We present a particle swarm-based solution and compare it with the best published algorithm for this problem. Experimental results show that our approach out-performs this existing method in terms of both solution quality and execution time.