Most real-world optimization problems often come with multiple global optima or local optima. Therefore, increasing niching metaheuristic algorithms, which devote to finding multiple optima in a single run, are developed to solve these multimodal optimization problems. However, there are two difficulties urgently to be solved for most existing niching metaheuristic algorithms: how to set the niching parameter values for different optimization problems and how to jump out of the local optima efficiently. These two difficulties limit their practicality largely. Based on Whale Swarm Algorithm (WSA) we proposed previously, this paper presents a new multimodal optimizer named WSA with Iterative Counter (WSA-IC) to address these two difficulties. On the one hand, WSA-IC improves the iteration rule of the original WSA for multimodal optimization, which removes the need of specifying different values of attenuation coefficient for different problems to form multiple subpopulations, without introducing any niching parameter. On the other hand, WSA-IC enables the identification of extreme points during the iterations relying on two new parameters (i.e., stability threshold (T_ s ) and fitness threshold (T_ f )), to jump out of the located extreme points. Moreover, the convergence of WSA-IC is proved. Finally, the proposed WSA-IC is compared with several niching metaheuristic algorithms on CEC2015 niching benchmark test functions and on five additional high-dimensional multimodal functions. The experimental results demonstrate that WSA-IC statistically outperforms other niching metaheuristic algorithms on most test functions.
Li @cite_28 proposed Species-based DE (SDE) algorithm to solve multimodal optimization problems via introducing speciation technique. In SDE algorithm, when the number of member individuals of a species is less than a predefined value, the algorithm will randomly generate new individuals within the radius of species seed until the species size reaches the predefined value. Then, each identified species runs the conventional DE algorithm by itself. In addition, if the fitness of an offspring is the same as that of its species seed, this offspring will be replaced by a randomly generated new individual. These two mechanisms have improved the efficiency of SDE algorithm significantly.
@cite_28
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In this paper differential evolution is extended by using the notion of speciation for solving multimodal optimization problems. The proposed species-based DE (SDE) is able to locate multiple global optima simultaneously through adaptive formation of multiple species (or subpopulations) in an DE population at each iteration step. Each species functions as an DE by itself. Successive local improvements through species formation can eventually transform into global improvements in identifying multiple global optima. In this study the performance of SDE is compared with another recently proposed DE variant CrowdingDE. The computational complexity of SDE, the effect of population size and species radius on SDE are investigated. SDE is found to be more computationally efficient than CrowdingDE over a number of benchmark multimodal test functions. This paper proposes a new differential evolution (DE) algorithm for unconstrained continuous optimisation problems, termed @math μJADE, that uses a small or micro' ( @math μ) population. The main contribution of the proposed DE is a new mutation operator, current-by-rand-to-pbest.' With a population size less than 10, @math μJADE is able to solve some classical multimodal benchmark problems of 30 and 100 dimensions as reliably as some state-of-the-art DE algorithms using conventionally sized populations. The algorithm also compares favourably to other small population DE variants and classical DE. In differential evolution (DE), there are many adaptive algorithms proposed for parameters adaptation. However, they mainly aim at tuning the amplification factor F and crossover probability CR. When the population diversity is at a low level or the population becomes stagnant, the population is not able to improve any more. To enhance the performance of DE algorithms, in this paper, we propose a method of population adaptation. The proposed method can identify the moment when the population diversity is poor or the population stagnates by measuring the Euclidean distances between individuals of a population. When the moment is identified, the population will be regenerated to increase diversity or to eliminate the stagnation issue. The population adaptation is incorporated into the jDE algorithm and is tested on a set of 25 scalable CEC05 benchmark functions. The results show that the population adaptation can significantly improve the performance of the jDE algorithm. Even if the population size of jDE is small, the jDE algorithm with population adaptation also has a superior performance in comparisons with several other peer algorithms for high-dimension function optimization. A multi-population based approach is proposed to realize the adapted ensemble of multiple strategies of differential evolution.The control parameters of each mutation strategy are adapted independently.Extensive experiments are conducted to test the performance of multi-population ensemble DE (MPEDE). Differential evolution (DE) is among the most efficient evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for global optimization and now widely applied to solve diverse real-world applications. As the most appropriate configuration of DE to efficiently solve different optimization problems can be significantly different, an appropriate combination of multiple strategies into one DE variant attracts increasing attention recently. In this study, we propose a multi-population based approach to realize an ensemble of multiple strategies, thereby resulting in a new DE variant named multi-population ensemble DE (MPEDE) which simultaneously consists of three mutation strategies, i.e., "current-to-pbest 1" and "current-to-rand 1" and "rand 1". There are three equally sized smaller indicator subpopulations and one much larger reward subpopulation. Each constituent mutation strategy has one indicator subpopulation. After every certain number of generations, the current best performing mutation strategy will be determined according to the ratios between fitness improvements and consumed function evaluations. Then the reward subpopulation will be allocated to the determined best performing mutation strategy dynamically. As a result, better mutation strategies obtain more computational resources in an adaptive manner during the evolution. The control parameters of each mutation strategy are adapted independently as well. Extensive experiments on the suit of CEC 2005 benchmark functions and comprehensive comparisons with several other efficient DE variants show the competitive performance of the proposed MPEDE (Matlab codes of MPEDE are available from http: guohuawunudt.gotoip2.com publications.html).