Abstract
Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is a popular metaheuristic due to its simplicity yet a stronger search mechanism. However, some researchers have reported that ABC algorithm lays more emphasis on exploration in comparison with exploitation, its performance also deteriorates gradually as the dimensions of the problems increase and the algorithm may occasionally stop proceeding towards the global optimum. Hence, the algorithm runs the risk of missing out on true global optima. This study critically analyses the functional behaviour of ABC algorithm in the context of above reports and finds that the scout bee operator may turn redundant while dealing with high dimensional problems. Thus, in contrast to the popular view, the study suggests that the ABC algorithm may be poor in exploration ability too for high-dimensional problems. Further, the study offers an explanation for the above-reported observations by other researchers. The findings of the study may be quite useful for designing better performing variants of ABC algorithm.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akay B, Karaboga D (2012) A modified artificial bee colony algorithm for real-parameter optimization. Inf Sci 192:120–142
Cao Y, Lu Y, Pan X, Sun N (2018) An improved global best guided artificial bee colony algorithm for continuous optimization problems. Cluster Comput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-018-1817-8
Crawford B, Soto R, Cuesta R, Paredes F (2014) Application of the artificial bee colony algorithm for solving the set covering problem. Sci World J. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/189164
Gao WF, Liu SY, Huang LL (2013) A novel artificial bee colony algorithm based on modified search equation and orthogonal learning. IEEE Trans Cybern 43(3):1011–1024
Gao WF, Liu SY, Huang LL (2014) Enhancing artificial bee colony algorithm using more information-based search equations. Inf Sci 270:112–133
Gao WF, Huang LL, Liu SY, Chan FTS, Dai C, Shan X (2015) Artificial bee colony algorithm with multiple search strategies. Appl Math Comput 271:269–287
Garitselov O, Mohanty SP, Kougianos E (2012) Accurate polynomial metamodeling-based ultra-fast bee colony optimization of a nano-CMOS phase-locked loop. J Low Power Electronics 8(3):317–328
Hadidi A, Azad SK, Azad SK (2010) Structural optimization using artificial bee colony algorithm. In: 2nd international conference on engineering optimization, Lisbon, Portugal
Hong PN, Ahn CW (2016) Fast artificial bee colony and its application to stereo correspondence. Expert Syst Appl 45:460–470
Karaboga D (2005) An idea based on honeybee swarm for numerical optimization. Technical Report TR06, Erciyes University, Engineering Faculty, Computer Engineering Department
Karaboga D, Akay B (2009) A comparative study of artificial bee colony algorithm. Appl Math Comput 214:108–132
Karaboga D, Basturk B (2007) A powerful and efficient algorithm for numerical function optimization: artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. J Global Optim 39:459–471
Karaboga D, Basturk B (2008) On the performance of artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. Appl Soft Comput 8:687–697
Kiran MS, Hakli H, Gunduz M, Uguz H (2015) Artificial bee colony algorithm with variable search strategy for continuous optimization. Inf Sci 300:140–157
Liang JJ, Qu BY, Suganthan PN (2013) Problem definitions and evaluation criteria for the CEC 2014. Special session and competition on single objective real-parameter numerical optimization. Technical Report 201311, Computational Intelligence Laboratory, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou China and Technical Report, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Sharma TK, Pant M (2017) Shuffled artificial bee colony algorithm. Soft Comput 21(20):6085–6104
Singh A, Damir B, Deep K, Ganju A (2015) Calibration of nearest neighbors model for avalanche forecasting. Cold Reg Sci Technol 109:33–42
Sonmez M, Akgüngör AP, Bektaş S (2017) Estimating transportation energy demand in Turkey using the artificial bee colony algorithm. Energy 122:301–310
Wang B (2015) A novel artificial bee colony algorithm based on modified search strategy and generalized opposition-based learning. J Intell Fuzzy Syst Appl Eng Technol 28(3):1023–1037
Wang H, Wu Z, Rahnamayan S, Sun H, Liu Y, Pan JS (2014) Multi-strategy ensemble artificial bee colony algorithm. Inf Sci 279:587–603
Xue Y, Jiang J, Ma T, Li C (2015) The performance research of artificial bee colony algorithm on the large scale global optimisation problems. Int J Wirel Mobile Comput 9(3):300–305
Xue Y, Jiang J, Zhao B, Ma T (2017) A self-adaptive artificial bee colony algorithm based on global best for global optimization. Soft Comput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-017-2547-1
Zhang Y, Wu L (2011a) Optimal multi-level thresholding based on maximum tsallis entropy via an artificial bee colony approach. Entropy 13(4):841–859
Zhang Y, Wu L (2011b) Face pose estimation by chaotic artificial bee colony. Int J Digit Content Technol Appl 5(2):55–63
Zhang Y, Wu L, Wang S (2011) Magnetic resonance brain image classification by an improved artificial bee colony algorithm. Prog Electromagn Res Pier 116:65–79
Zhu G, Kwong S (2010) Gbest-guided artificial bee colony algorithm for numerical function optimization. Appl Math Comput 217:3166–3173
Acknowledgements
The MATLAB codes of ABC algorithm and CEC’2014 benchmark test suite used in this study were downloaded from http://mf.erciyes.edu.tr/abc/software.htm and http://web.mysites.ntu.edu.sg/epnsugan/PublicSite/Shared Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx, respectively. The authors are also grateful to editorial team and anonymous reviewers for critical comments and valuable suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Communicated by V. Loia.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singh, A., Deep, K. Exploration–exploitation balance in Artificial Bee Colony algorithm: a critical analysis. Soft Comput 23, 9525–9536 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3515-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3515-0