Multi-strategy Remora Optimization Algorithm for solving multi-extremum problems

Abstract A metaheuristic algorithm that simulates the foraging behavior of remora has been proposed in recent years, called ROA. ROA mainly simulates host parasitism and host switching in the foraging behavior of remora. However, in the experiment, it was found that there is still room for improvement in the performance of ROA. When dealing with complex optimization problems, ROA often falls into local optimal solutions, and there is also the problem of too-slow convergence. Inspired by the natural rule of “Survival of the fittest”, this paper proposes a random restart strategy to improve the ability of ROA to jump out of the local optimal solution. Secondly, inspired by the foraging behavior of remora, this paper adds an information entropy evaluation strategy and visual perception strategy based on ROA. With the blessing of three strategies, a multi-strategy Remora Optimization Algorithm (MSROA) is proposed. Through 23 benchmark functions and IEEE CEC2017 test functions, MSROA is comprehensively tested, and the experimental results show that MSROA has strong optimization capabilities. In order to further verify the application of MSROA in practice, this paper tests MSROA through five practical engineering problems, which proves that MSROA has strong competitiveness in solving practical optimization problems. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract