Considering radial basis function neural network for effective solution generation in metaheuristic algorithms

Abstract

In many engineering optimization problems, the number of function evaluations is severely limited by the time or cost constraints. These limitations present a significant challenge in the field of global optimization, because existing metaheuristic methods typically require a substantial number of function evaluations to find optimal solutions. This paper presents a new metaheuristic optimization algorithm that considers the information obtained by a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) in terms of the objective function for guiding the search process. Initially, the algorithm uses the maximum design approach to strategically distribute a set of solutions across the entire search space. It then enters a cycle in which the RBFNN models the objective function values from the current solutions. The algorithm identifies and uses key neurons in the hidden layer that correspond to the highest objective function values to generate new solutions. The centroids and standard deviations of these neurons guide the sampling process, which continues until the desired number of solutions is reached. By focusing on the areas of the search space that yield high objective function values, the algorithm avoids exhaustive solution evaluations and significantly reduces the number of function evaluations. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated through a comparison with popular metaheuristic algorithms across several test functions, where it consistently outperforms existing techniques, delivers higher-quality solutions, and improves convergence rates.