Hybrid Harmony Search Optimization Algorithm for Continuous Functions

Abstract

This paper proposes a hybrid harmony search algorithm that incorporates a method of reinitializing harmonies memory using a particle swarm optimization algorithm with an improved opposition-based learning method (IOBL) to solve continuous optimization problems. This method allows the algorithm to obtain better results by increasing the search space of the solutions. This approach has been validated by comparing the performance of the proposed algorithm with that of a state-of-the-art harmony search algorithm, solving fifteen standard mathematical functions, and applying the Wilcoxon parametric test at a 5% significance level. The state-of-the-art algorithm uses an opposition-based improvement method (IOBL). Computational experiments show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm. In quality, it is better in fourteen of the fifteen instances, and in efficiency is better in seven of fifteen instances.