ACO beats EA on a dynamic pseudo-boolean function

Abstract

In this paper, we contribute to the understanding of the behavior of bio-inspired algorithms when tracking the optimum of a dynamically changing fitness function over time. In particular, we are interested in the difference between a simple evolutionary algorithm (EA) and a simple ant colony optimization (ACO) system on deterministically changing fitness functions, which we call dynamic fitness patterns. Of course, the algorithms have no prior knowledge about the patterns. We construct a bit string optimization problem where we can show that the ACO system is able to follow the optimum while the EA gets lost. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.