Programmed pulse width modulation is an optimized pulse width modulation which is particularly applicable for high-power applications where the power losses must be kept below firm limits. Based on the offline estimation, it is capable of pre programming the harmonic profile of the output waveform over a range of modulation indices by eliminating some lower order harmonics. In this paper, improved firefly algorithm (FA) is applied to determine the optimum switching angles for the 11- level cascaded H bridge multilevel inverter (MLI) with adjustable DC sources in order to eliminate pre specified lower order harmonics and to achieve the desired fundamental voltage. Though number of optimization algorithms is available for the estimation of switching angles, Firefly algorithm takes least computation time and surpasses all other 11 metaheuristic Algorithms. The algorithm and the model are developed using MATLAB and the validity of the simulation is confirmed by an experimental setup using FPGA Spartan 6A DSP. Results are compared with the results obtained using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bee colony algorithm (ABCA) and it is proved that the proposed method offers reduced total harmonic distortion (THD) with less computation period. 
Application of improved firefly algorithm for programmed PWM in multilevel inverter with adjustable DC sources