Firefly Algorithm: Recent Advances and Applications

Nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms, especially those based on swarm intelligence, have attracted much attention in the last ten years. Firefly algorithm appeared in about five years ago, its literature has expanded dramatically with diverse applications. In this paper, we will briefly review the fundamentals of firefly algorithm together with a selection of recent publications. Then, we discuss the optimality associated with balancing exploration and exploitation, which is essential for all metaheuristic algorithms. By comparing with intermittent search strategy, we conclude that metaheuristics such as firefly algorithm are better than the optimal intermittent search strategy. We also analyse algorithms and their implications for higher-dimensional optimization problems.Comment: 15 page

Chaotic Quantum Double Delta Swarm Algorithm using Chebyshev Maps: Theoretical Foundations, Performance Analyses and Convergence Issues

Quantum Double Delta Swarm (QDDS) Algorithm is a new metaheuristic algorithm inspired by the convergence mechanism to the center of potential generated within a single well of a spatially co-located double-delta well setup. It mimics the wave nature of candidate positions in solution spaces and draws upon quantum mechanical interpretations much like other quantum-inspired computational intelligence paradigms. In this work, we introduce a Chebyshev map driven chaotic perturbation in the optimization phase of the algorithm to diversify weights placed on contemporary and historical, socially-optimal agents' solutions. We follow this up with a characterization of solution quality on a suite of 23 single-objective functions and carry out a comparative analysis with eight other related nature-inspired approaches. By comparing solution quality and successful runs over dynamic solution ranges, insights about the nature of convergence are obtained. A two-tailed t-test establishes the statistical significance of the solution data whereas Cohen's d and Hedge's g values provide a measure of effect sizes. We trace the trajectory of the fittest pseudo-agent over all function evaluations to comment on the dynamics of the system and prove that the proposed algorithm is theoretically globally convergent under the assumptions adopted for proofs of other closely-related random search algorithms.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, 19 table

A Comprehensive Review of Recent Variants and Modifications of Firefly Algorithm

Swarm intelligence (SI) is an emerging field of biologically-inspired artificial intelligence based on the behavioral models of social insects such as ants, bees, wasps, termites etc. Swarm intelligence is the discipline that deals with natural and artificial systems composed of many individuals that coordinate using decentralized control and self-organization. Most SI algorithms have been developed to address stationary optimization problems and hence, they can converge on the (near-) optimum solution efficiently. However, many real-world problems have a dynamic environment that changes over time. In the last two decades, there has been a growing interest of addressing Dynamic Optimization Problems using SI algorithms due to their adaptation capabilities. This paper presents a broad review on two SI algorithms: 1) Firefly Algorithm (FA) 2) Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA). FA is inspired from bioluminescence characteristic of fireflies. FPA is inspired from the the pollination behavior of flowering plants. This article aims to give a detailed analysis of different variants of FA and FPA developed by parameter adaptations, modification, hybridization as on date. This paper also addresses the applications of these algorithms in various fields. In addition, literatures found that most of the cases that used FA and FPA technique have outperformed compare to other metaheuristic algorithms

Extensions of firefly algorithm for nonsmooth nonconvex constrained optimization problems

Publicado em: "Computational science and its applications – ICCSA 2016: 16th International Conference, Beijing, China, July 4-7, 2016, Proceedings, Part I". ISBN 978-3-319-42084-4Firefly Algorithm (FA) is a stochastic population-based algorithm based on the flashing patterns and behavior of fireflies. Original FA was created and successfully applied to solve bound constrained optimization problems. In this paper we present extensions of FA for solving nonsmooth nonconvex constrained global optimization problems. To handle the constraints of the problem, feasibility and dominance rules and a fitness function based on the global competitive ranking, are proposed. To enhance the speed of convergence, the proposed extensions of FA invoke a stochastic local search procedure. Numerical experiments to validate the proposed approaches using a set of well know test problems are presented. The results show that the proposed extensions of FA compares favorably with other stochastic population-based methods.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007043FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and UID/MAT/00013/201

Fractional Order Controller Designing with Firefly Algorithm and Parameter Optimization for Hydroturbine Governing System

A fractional order PID (FOPID) controller, which is suitable for control system designing for being insensitive to the variation in system parameter, is proposed for hydroturbine governing system in the paper. The simultaneous optimization for several parameters of controller, that is, Ki, Kd, Kp, λ, and μ, is done by a recently developed metaheuristic nature-inspired algorithm, namely, the firefly algorithm (FA), for the first time, where the selecting, moving, attractiveness behavior between fireflies and updating of brightness, and decision range are studied in detail to simulate the optimization process. Investigation clearly reveals the advantages of the FOPID controller over the integer controllers in terms of reduced oscillations and settling time. The present work also explores the superiority of FA based optimization technique in finding optimal parameters of the controller. Further, convergence characteristics of the FA are compared with optimum integer order PID (IOPID) controller to justify its efficiency. What is more, analysis confirms the robustness of FOPID controller under isolated load operation conditions