A modified firefly algorithm for global minimum optimization

The Firefly algorithm is a population-based optimization algorithm. It has become popular in the field of optimization and has been applied to engineering practices. Recent works have failed to address how to find the global minimum because their algorithm was trapped in the local minimum. Also, they were notable to provide a balance between exploration and exploitation. In this paper, the Tidal Force formula has been applied to modify the Firefly algorithm, which describes the effect of a massive body that gravitationally affects another massive body. The proposed algorithm brings a new strategy into the optimization field. It is applied by using exploitation (Tidal Force) and keeping a balance between the exploration and exploitation on function suitability. Plate shaped, Steep Ridges, Unimodal and Multimodal benchmark functions were used to compare experimental results. The study findings indicate that the Tidal Force Firefly algorithm outperforms the other existing modified Firefly algorithms. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.