Particle Swarm Optimisation, with focus on Environmental Models
Description
This package implements a state-of-the-art version of the
Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) algorithm (SPSO-2011 and
SPSO-2007 capable). hydroPSO can be used as a replacement of
the 'optim' R function for (global) optimization of non-smooth
and non-linear functions. However, the main focus of hydroPSO
is the calibration of environmental and other real-world models
that need to be executed from the system console. hydroPSO is
model-independent, allowing the user to easily interface any
computer simulation model with the calibration engine (PSO).
hydroPSO communicates with the model through the model's own
input and output files, without requiring access to the model's
source code. Several PSO variants and controlling options are
included to fine-tune the performance of the calibration engine
to different calibration problems. An advanced sensitivity
analysis function together with user-friendly plotting
summaries facilitate the interpretation and assessment of the
calibration results. hydroPSO is parallel-capable, to alleviate
the computational burden of complex models with "long"
execution time. Bugs reports/comments/questions are very
welcomed (in English, Spanish or Italian).