Search

Various metaheuristic optimization algorithms are being developed to obtain optimal solutions to real-world problems. Metaheuristic algorithms are inspired by various metaphors, resulting in different search mechanisms, operators, and parameters, and thus algorithm-specific strengths and weaknesses. Newly developed algorithms are generally tested using benchmark problems. However, for existing traditional benchmark problems, it is difficult for users to freely modify the characteristics of a problem. Thus, their shapes and sizes are limited, which is a disadvantage. In this study, a modified Gaussian fitness landscape generator is proposed based on a probability density function, to make up for the disadvantages of traditional benchmark problems. The fitness landscape developed in this study contains a total of six features and can be employed to easily create various problems depending on user needs, which is an important advantage. It is applied to quantitatively evaluate the performance and reliability of eight reported metaheuristic algorithms. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed on the population size for population-based algorithms. Furthermore, improved versions of the metaheuristic algorithm are considered, to investigate which performance aspects are enhanced by applying the same fitness landscape. The modified Gaussian fitness landscape generator can be employed to compare the performances of existing optimization algorithms and to evaluate the performances of newly developed algorithms. In addition, it can be employed to develop methods of improving algorithms by evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a self-adaptive global mine blast algorithm (GMBA) is proposed for numerical optimization. This algorithm is designed in a novel way, and a new shrapnel equation is proposed for the exploitation phase of mine blast algorithm. A theoretical study is performed, which proves the convergence of any typical shrapnel piece; a new definition for parameters values is defined based on the performed theoretical studies. The promising nature of newly designed exploitation idea is verified with the help of multiple numerical experiments. A state-of-the-art set of benchmark problems are solved with the proposed GMBA, and the optimization results are compared with seven state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. The experimental results are statistically validated by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and time complexity of GMBA is also calculated. It has been justified that the proposed GMBA works as a global optimizer for constrained optimization problems. As an application to the newly developed GMBA, an important data clustering problem is solved on six data clusters and the clustering results are compared with the state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. The promising results claim the proposed GMBA as a strong optimizer for data clustering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]