Development and investigation of efficient artificial bee colony algorithm for numerical function optimization

Artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC), which is inspired by the foraging behavior of honey bee swarm, is a biological-inspired optimization. It shows more effective than genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and ant colony optimization (ACO). However, ABC is good at exploration but poor at exploitation, and its convergence speed is also an issue in some cases. For these insufficiencies, we propose an improved ABC algorithm called I-ABC. In I-ABC, the best-so-far solution, inertia weight and acceleration coefficients are introduced to modify the search process. Inertia weight and acceleration coefficients are defined as functions of the fitness. In addition, to further balance search processes, the modification forms of the employed bees and the onlooker ones are different in the second acceleration coefficient. Experiments show that, for most functions, the I-ABC has a faster convergence speed and better performances than each of ABC and the gbest-guided ABC (GABC). But I-ABC could not still substantially achieve the best solution for all optimization problems. In a few cases, it could not find better results than ABC or GABC. In order to inherit the bright sides of ABC, GABC and I-ABC, a high-efficiency hybrid ABC algorithm, which is called PS-ABC, is proposed. PS-ABC owns the abilities of prediction and selection. Results show that PS-ABC has a faster convergence speed like I-ABC and better search ability than other relevant methods for almost all functions.     

双搜索人工蜂群算法的彩色图像多阈值分割

针对彩色图像多阈值分割中普遍存在精度低、速度慢的问题,提出了一种新的基于双搜索人工蜂群（DABC）的彩色图像多阈值分割算法。首先由于人工蜂群算法单一的解搜索公式存在不足,对雇佣蜂和跟随蜂各提出了一种搜索公式,进而对人工蜂群算法的相关参数进行了改进,然后做了DABC算法、全局最优引导人工蜂群算法（GABC）、人工蜂群算法（ABC）、粒子群优化算法（PSO）这四种算法的彩色图像多阈值分割对比实验。实验结果表明,与其他三种算法相比,基于DABC的彩色图像多阈值分割方法在分割的精度和速度上都有明显提高,完全能满足实际的需要。     

一种带共享因子的人工蜂群算法

人工蜂群(ABC)算法在搜索过程中收敛速度较慢,且容易出现早熟现象。针对该问题,提出一种带共享因子的ABC算法。通过共享因子动态调整蜜蜂与其邻域个体之间的信息共享程度,在搜索初始阶段适当减小信息共享,避免蜂群飞过最优解所在区域,在搜索中后期增强信息共享,提高蜂群的全局寻优性能。函数测试结果表明,该算法具有较好的收敛性能,适用于求解复杂函数优化问题。     

A modified artificial bee colony algorithm

Artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) is a relatively new optimization technique which has been shown to be competitive to other population-based algorithms. However, there is still an insufficiency in ABC regarding its solution search equation, which is good at exploration but poor at exploitation. Inspired by differential evolution (DE), we propose an improved solution search equation, which is based on that the bee searches only around the best solution of the previous iteration to improve the exploitation. Then, in order to make full use of and balance the exploration of the solution search equation of ABC and the exploitation of the proposed solution search equation, we introduce a selective probability P and get the new search mechanism. In addition, to enhance the global convergence, when producing the initial population, both chaotic systems and opposition-based learning methods are employed. The new search mechanism together with the proposed initialization makes up the modified ABC (MABC for short), which excludes the probabilistic selection scheme and scout bee phase. Experiments are conducted on a set of 28 benchmark functions. The results demonstrate good performance of MABC in solving complex numerical optimization problems when compared with two ABC-based algorithms.     

Modified Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Self-Adaptive Extended Memory

To solve the problem of the poor solution precision and convergence speed in the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, in this article we propose a modified algorithm called ABC algorithm with self-adaptive extended memory (ABCSEM) algorithm. First, the extended memory is introduced to store employed bees’ historical information comprising recent food sources, personal best food sources, and global best food sources. Furthermore, the extended memory is added to the solution search equation to improve the exploitation capability. Experimental results conducted on a set of numerical benchmark functions show that the ABCSEM algorithm can outperform the ABC algorithm in most of the tested functions.     

改进的人工蜂群算法在函数优化问题中的应用

人工蜂群算法是近年来新提出的一种优化算法。针对标准人工蜂群算法的局部搜索能力差,精度低的缺点,提出了一个改进的人工蜂群算法,利用全局最优解和个体极值的信息来改进人工蜂群算法中的搜索模式,并引入异步变化学习因子,保持全局搜索和局部搜索的平衡。将改进的人工蜂群算法在函数优化问题上进行测试,结果表明改进的人工蜂群算法优于原算法。     

Gaussian bare-bones artificial bee colony algorithm

As a relatively new global optimization technique, artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm becomes popular in recent years for its simplicity and effectiveness. However, there is still an inefficiency in ABC regarding its solution search equation, which is good at exploration but poor at exploitation. To overcome this drawback, a Gaussian bare-bones ABC is proposed, where a new search equation is designed based on utilizing the global best solution. Furthermore, we employ the generalized opposition-based learning strategy to generate new food sources for scout bees, which is beneficial to discover more useful information for guiding search. A comprehensive set of experiments is conducted on 23 benchmark functions and a real-world optimization problem to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Some well-known ABC variants and state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms are used for comparison. The experimental results show that the proposed approach offers higher solution quality and faster convergence speed.     

Enhanced artificial bee colony algorithm through differential evolution

Artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) is a relatively new optimization algorithm. However, ABC does well in exploration but badly in exploitation. One possible way to improve the exploitation ability of the algorithm is to combine ABC with other operations. Differential evolution (DE) can be considered as a good choice for this purpose. Based on this consideration, we propose a new algorithm, i.e. DGABC, which combines DE with gbest-guided ABC (GABC) by an evaluation strategy with an attempt to utilize more prior information of the previous search experience to speed up the convergence. In addition, to improve the global convergence, when producing the initial population, a chaotic opposition-based population initialization method is employed. The comparison results on a set of 27 benchmark functions demonstrate that the proposed method has better performance than the other algorithms.     

基于精英解和随机个体邻域信息的改进人工蜂群算法

针对人工蜂群(ABC)算法开发能力差、收敛速度慢的缺点,分别提出适用于雇佣蜂和观察蜂阶段的搜索方程,其中前者用到精英解、随机选择个体及其邻域的有益信息,后者用到群体最优解的信息.所提出的搜索方程在一定程度上不仅能够加快改进算法的收敛速度,而且由于随机选择个体的引入在一定意义上可以保证算法的探索能力.对22个基准测试函数的仿真实验结果表明,所提出的算法在大多数测试函数上的性能优于对比算法.     

自扰动人工蜂群算法

人工蜂群(Artificial Bee Colony,ABC)算法是一种模仿蜂群寻找蜜源的新型算法,因具有参数简单、灵活性强等优点而被广泛用于解决工程问题。但该算法在早熟、收敛速度慢和个体越界等缺点。为此,提出一种自扰动人工蜂群算法(Novel Artificial Bee Algorithm with Adaptive Disturbance,IGABC)。该算法采用轴对称策略处理蜂群中的越界个体,提高了算法的搜索效率。通过改进全局搜索方程的结构,同时加入带阈值的线性递增策略,提出一种全新的自适应搜索方程。自适应搜索方程提高了算法的收敛精度并加快了速度。为了获得更好的全局最优解,提出一种自扰动方法对全局最优解进行扰动。选取18个基准测试函数以及近4年提出的6个改进ABC算法进行对比实验,结果表明,该算法在收敛速度和精度上均有较大的优势,尤其在处理Rosenbrock等很难寻优的复杂函数时,收敛精度提高了16个数量级。     

An efficient and robust artificial bee colony algorithm for numerical optimization

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm has already shown more effective than other population-based algorithms. However, ABC is good at exploration but poor at exploitation, which results in an issue on convergence performance in some cases. To improve the convergence performance of ABC, an efficient and robust artificial bee colony (ERABC) algorithm is proposed. In ERABC, a combinatorial solution search equation is introduced to accelerate the search process. And in order to avoid being trapped in local minima, chaotic search technique is employed on scout bee phase. Meanwhile, to reach a kind of sustainable evolutionary ability, reverse selection based on roulette wheel is applied to keep the population diversity. In addition, to enhance the global convergence, chaotic initialization is used to produce initial population. Finally, experimental results tested on 23 benchmark functions show that ERABC has a very good performance when compared with two ABC-based algorithms.     

A recombination-based hybridization of particle swarm optimization and artificial bee colony algorithm for continuous optimization problems

This paper presents a hybridization of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bee colony (ABC) approaches, based on recombination procedure. The PSO and ABC are population-based iterative methods. While the PSO directly uses the global best solution of the population to determine new positions for the particles at the each iteration, agents (employed, onlooker and scout bees) of the ABC do not directly use this information but the global best solution in the ABC is stored at the each iteration. The global best solutions obtained by the PSO and ABC are used for recombination, and the solution obtained from this recombination is given to the populations of the PSO and ABC as the global best and neighbor food source for onlooker bees, respectively. Information flow between particle swarm and bee colony helps increase global and local search abilities of the hybrid approach which is referred to as Hybrid approach based on Particle swarm optimization and Artificial bee colony algorithm, HPA for short. In order to test the performance of the HPA algorithm, this study utilizes twelve basic numerical benchmark functions in addition to CEC2005 composite functions and an energy demand estimation problem. The experimental results obtained by the HPA are compared with those of the PSO and ABC. The performance of the HPA is also compared with that of other hybrid methods based on the PSO and ABC. The experimental results show that the HPA algorithm is an alternative and competitive optimizer for continuous optimization problems.     

Solving resource-constrained project scheduling problems: Conceptual validation of FLP formulation and efficient permutation-based ABC computation

In this paper, we propose two alternative approaches, applying the facility layout problem (FLP) concept and integrating the permutation-based artificial bee colony (PABC) algorithm, to effectively tackle the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP). In the FLP formulation, the constraints are expressed to design the activities in the space constructed by resource and temporal restrictions, without violating the precedence relationships and overlaps between the activities. For dodging the difficulty of the FLP-based model to treat large-sized instances of NP-hard RCPSP, the permutation representation scheme of the PABC algorithm is in turn introduced utilizing the artificial bee colony (ABC) process to search the best solution for RCPSP. In the procedure, a crossover operator and an insert operator following the update equation of the ABC algorithm are devised to augment the effectiveness of computation, whereas a shift operator subject to the resource utilization ratio value is suggested to diversify the solutions. The makespan is then obtained and improved with the assistance of a serial scheduling scheme and a double justification skill. Subsequently, the computational experiments conducted substantiate the conceptual validity of the proposed facility layout formulation for RCPSP and the comprehensive simulation shows the effectiveness of the PABC algorithm for RCPSP.     

Artificial bee colony algorithm with gene recombination for numerical function optimization

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is a stochastic and population-based optimization method, which mimics the collaborative foraging behaviour of honey bees and has shown great potential to handle various kinds of optimization problems. However, ABC often suffers from slow convergence speed since its internal mechanism and solution search equation do well in exploration, but badly in exploitation. In order to solve this knotty issue, inspired by the natural phenomenon that the good individuals (solutions) always contain good genes (variables) and the effective combination of the superior genes from different good individuals could more easily produce better offspring, we introduce a novel gene recombination operator (GRO) into ABC to accelerate convergence. To be specific, in GRO, a part of good solutions in the current population are selected to produce candidate solutions by the gene combination. Especially, each good solution recombines with only one other good solution to generate only one candidate solution. In addition, GRO will be launched at the end of each generation. In order to validate its efficiency and effectiveness, GRO is embedded into nine versions of ABC, i.e., the original ABC, GABC, best-so-far ABC(BSFABC), MABC, CABC, ABCVSS, qABC, dABC and distABC, while yields GRABC, GRGABC, GRBSFABC, GRMABC, GRCABC, GRABCVSS, GRqABC, GRdABC and GRdistABC respectively. The experimental results on 22 benchmark functions demonstrate that GRO could enhance the exploitation ability of ABCs and accelerate convergence without loss of diversity.     

Memetic search in artificial bee colony algorithm

Artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization algorithm is relatively a simple and recent population based probabilistic approach for global optimization. ABC has been outperformed over some Nature Inspired Algorithms (NIAs) when tested over benchmark as well as real world optimization problems. The solution search equation of ABC is significantly influenced by a random quantity which helps in exploration at the cost of exploitation of the search space. In the solution search equation of ABC, there is a enough chance to skip the true solution due to large step size. In order to balance between diversity and convergence capability of the ABC, a new local search phase is integrated with the basic ABC to exploit the search space identified by the best individual in the swarm. In the proposed phase, ABC works as a local search algorithm in which, the step size that is required to update the best solution, is controlled by Golden Section Search approach. The proposed strategy is named as Memetic ABC (MeABC). In MeABC, new solutions are generated around the best solution and it helps to enhance the exploitation capability of ABC. MeABC is established as a modified ABC algorithm through experiments over 20 test problems of different complexities and 4 well known engineering optimization problems.     

基于向量整体扰动的快速收敛人工蜂群算法

针对标准人工蜂群算法收敛速度慢和易陷入早熟收敛等问题,提出一种快速收敛人工蜂群算法。首先借助反向学习理论初始化种群来提高初始解的分布质量,并在雇佣蜂和跟随蜂阶段引入向量整体扰动搜索方程加快局部搜索;然后为了跳出局部最优,采用一种随机更新搜索策略来增加蜂群多样性以平衡全局探索和局部利用能力;最后通过八个标准测试函数的仿真实验,发现所提出的算法与几个改进的人工蜂群算法相比,具有更快的收敛速度且获得了更高的求解精度,验证了算法的优越性。     

基于神经网络与改进ABC算法的瓦斯预测研究

人工蜜蜂群(ABC)优化算法具有较强的全局搜索能力。在标准算法的基础上,参考粒子群优化算法,加入当前全局最优解对算法的有益引导;当观察蜂在引导蜂所在食物源附近搜索时,引入混沌搜索机制,改善局部搜索性能。利用改进的ABC算法,以网络训练的最小方差F为优化指标,优化神经网络的连接权值。优化后的神经网络用于瓦斯预测,取得了良好的效果。     

人工蜂群算法求解资源受限项目调度问题

针对资源受限项目调度问题,提出了一种基于人工蜂群算法的优化方法。人工蜂群算法中每个食物源的位置代表一种项目任务的优先权序列,每个食物源的位置通过扩展串行调度机制转换成可行的调度方案,迭代中由三种人工蜂执行不同的操作来实现全局最优解的更新。实验结果表明,人工蜂群算法是求解资源受限项目调度问题的有效方法,同时扩展调度机制的引入可以加速迭代收敛的进程。     

A novel artificial bee colony algorithm with Powell's method

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is a relatively new optimization technique which has been shown to be competitive to other population-based algorithms. However, there is still an insufficiency in ABC regarding its solution search equation, which is good at exploration but poor at exploitation. To address this concerning issue, we first propose a modified search equation which is applied to generate a candidate solution in the onlookers phase to improve the search ability of ABC. Further, we use the Powell's method as a local search tool to enhance the exploitation of the algorithm. The new algorithm is tested on 22 unconstrained benchmark functions and 13 constrained benchmark functions, and are compared with some other ABCs and several state-of-the-art algorithms. The comparisons show that the proposed algorithm offers the highest solution quality, fastest global convergence, and strongest robustness among all the contenders on almost all test functions.     

基于新型人工蜂群算法的分布式不相关并行机调度

针对考虑预防性维修的分布式不相关并行机调度问题,提出了一种新型人工蜂群算法(ABC)以最小化最大完成时间.为了获得高质量的计算结果,该算法将整个种群划分为1个引领蜂群和3个跟随蜂群,跟随蜂有自己的蜜源且采用新方式跟随引领蜂, 4种蜂群运用彼此各异的搜索策略产生新解以增强种群多样性,提出一种新策略处理侦查蜂的搜索,并利用优化数据更新整个种群.通过大量仿真实验验证了新型ABC在求解所研究问题方面的有效性和优势.