Incorporating a priori preferences in a vector PSO algorithm to find arbitrary fractions of the pareto front of multiobjective design problems

To incorporate the knowledge or preference of a decision maker or domain expert into a vector optimizer in the search for a series of subsets of the entire Pareto optimal solutions, a vector particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm that implements the reference point-based approach together with a desirability function is proposed. The fitness assignment strategy and the neighborhood relationship of the PSO algorithm are redefined to facilitate the realization of the aforementioned objective. To validate and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed algorithm, its applications on two different multiobjective problems are reported.