Advances in Engineering Software 114 (2017) 48–70
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Advances in Engineering Software
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/advengsoft
Research paper
Spotted hyena optimizer: A novel bio-inspired based metaheuristic
technique for engineering applications
Gaurav Dhiman, Vijay Kumar
∗
Computer Science and Engineering Department, Thapar University, Patiala, India
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 27 October 2016
Revised 11 March 2017
Accepted 21 May 2017
Available online 27 May 2017
Keywords:
Optimization
Optimization techniques
Metaheuristics
Constrained optimization
Unconstrained optimization
Benchmark test functions
a b s t r a c t
This paper presents a novel metaheuristic algorithm named as Spotted Hyena Optimizer (SHO) inspired
by the behavior of spotted hyenas. The main concept behind this algorithm is the social relationship
between spotted hyenas and their collaborative behavior. The three basic steps of SHO are searching for
prey, encircling, and attacking prey and all three are mathematically modeled and implemented. The pro-
posed algorithm is compared with eight recently developed metaheuristic algorithms on 29 well-known
benchmark test functions. The convergence and computational complexity is also analyzed. The proposed
algorithm is applied to five real-life constraint and one unconstrained engineering design problems to
demonstrate their applicability. The experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm performs
better than the other competitive metaheuristic algorithms.
©2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1.
Introduction
In the last few decades, the increase in complexity of real life
problems has given risen the need of better metaheuristic tech-
niques. These have been used for obtaining the optimal possible
solutions for real-life engineering design problems. These become
more popular due to their efficiency and complexity as compared
to other existing classical techniques [35] .
Metaheuristics are broadly classified into three categories such
as evolutionary-based, physical-based, and swarm-based meth-
ods. The first technique is generic population-based metaheuris-
tic which is inspired from biological evolution such as reproduc-
tion, mutation, recombination, and selection. The evolutionary al-
gorithms are inspired by theory of natural selection in which a
population (i.e., a set of solutions) tries to survive based on the
fitness evaluation in a given environment (defined as fitness eval-
uation). Evolutionary algorithms often perform well near optimal
solutions to all types of problems because these methods ideally
do not make any assumption about the basic fitness or adaptive
landscape. Some of the popular evolutionary-based techniques are
Genetic Algorithms (GA) [7] , Genetic Programming (GP) [34] , Evo-
lution Strategy (ES) [6] , and Biogeography-Based Optimizer (BBO)
[56] .
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: gdhiman0 0 01@gmail.com (G. Dhiman), vijaykumarchahar
@gmail.com (V. Kumar).
Some of well-known techniques such as Genetic Algorithms(GA)
[7] , Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) [12] , Particle Swarm Optimiza-
tion (PSO) [32] and Differential Evolution (DE) [57] are popular
among different fields. Due to easy implementation, metaheuris-
tic optimization algorithms are more popular in engineering ap-
plications [4,9,50] ( Fig. 1 ). The second category is physical-based
algorithms. In these algorithms, search agents communicate and
move throughout the search space according to physics rules such
as gravitational force, electromagnetic force, inertia force, and so
on. The name of few algorithms are Simulated Annealing (SA) [33] ,
Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) [52] , Big-Bang Big-Crunch
(BBBC) [14] , Charged System Search (CSS) [31] , Black Hole (BH)
[23] algorithm, Central Force Optimization (CFO) [16] , Small-World
Optimization Algorithm (SWOA) [13] , Artificial Chemical Reaction
Optimization Algorithm (ACROA) [1] , Ray Optimization (RO) algo-
rithm [29] , Galaxy-based Search Algorithm (GbSA) [54] , and Curved
Space Optimization (CSO) [45] .
The last one is swarm-based algorithms which are based on
the collective behavior of social creatures. The collective intelli-
gence is inspired by the interaction of swarm with each other
and their environment. The well-known algorithm of SI technique
is Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Another popular swarm-
intelligence technique is Ant Colony Optimization [12] , Monkey
Search [47] , Wolf pack search algorithm [61] , Bee Collecting Pollen
Algorithm (BCPA) [39] , Cuckoo Search (CS) [64] , Dolphin Partner
Optimization (DPO) [55] , Bat-inspired Algorithm (BA) [63] , Firefly
Algorithm (FA) [62] , Hunting Search (HUS) [48] . Generally, swarm-
based algorithms are easier to implement than evolutionary-based
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advengsoft.2017.05.014
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