Adaptive Multi-swarm Bat Algorithm (AMBA)

Abstract

Modified shuffled multi-population bat algorithm (MSMPBat) is a recently proposed swarm algorithm. It divides its population into multiple sub-populations (SPs), each of which uses different parameter settings and evolves independently using an enhanced search mechanism. For information exchange among these SPs, a solution from one SP is copied to the next after every generation. This process leads to duplication of solutions over time. To overcome this drawback, different techniques are introduced. Opposition-based learning is used to generate a diverse starting population. For information exchange, if a solution comes too close to the swarm best, only then it is sent (moved, not copied) to another swarm. Four techniques are proposed to select this second swarm. Initially, the selection probability of each technique is same. The algorithm adaptively updates these probabilities based on their success rate. The swarm which gave up the solution uses a modified opposition-based learning technique to generate a new solution. These changes help to maintain the overall diversity of the population. The proposed approach, namely, adaptive multi-swarm bat algorithm (AMBA), is compared to six algorithms over 20 benchmark functions. Results establish the superiority of adaptive multi-swarm bat algorithm.