Firefly algorithm: Difference between revisions

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It can be shown that the limiting case <math>\gamma \rightarrow 0 </math> corresponds to the standard [[Particle Swarm Optimization]] (PSO). In fact, if the inner loop (for j) is removed and the brightness <math>I_j</math> is replaced by the current global best <math>g^*</math>, then FA essentially becomes the standard PSO.

== Implementation Guides ==

The <math>\gamma</math> should be related to the scales of design variables. Ideally, the <math>\beta</math> term should be order one, which

requires that <math>\gamma </math> should be linked with scales. For example, one possible choice is to use

<math>\gamma=1/\sqrt{L} </math> where <math>L </math> is the average scale of the problem. In case of scales vary significantly, <math>\gamma </math> can be considered as a vector to suit different scales in different dimensions. Similarly, <math>\alpha_t</math> should also be linked with scales. For example, <math>\alpha_t \leftarrow 0.01 L \alpha_t </math>.

It is worth pointing out the above description does not include the randomness reduction. In fact, in actual implementation by most researchers, the motion of the fireflies is gradually reduced by an annealing-like randomness reduction via <math>\alpha=\alpha_0 \delta^t</math> where <math> 0< \delta <1 (e.g. \delta=0.97) </math>.<ref>http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/29693-firefly-algorithm/content/fa_mincon.m</ref> In some difficult problem, it may be helpful if you increase <math>\alpha_t </math> at some stages, then reduce it when necessary. This non-monotonic variation of <math>\alpha_t </math> will enable the algorithm to escape any local optima when in the unlikely case it might get stuck if randomness is reduced too quickly.

Parametric studies show that n (number of fireflies) should be about 15 to 40 for most problems.<ref>A simple demo Matlab code [http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/29693-firefly-algorithm is available]</ref> A python implementation is also available, though with limited functionalities.<ref>https://code.google.com/p/csc6810project/</ref>

Recent studies shows that the firefly algorithm is very efficient,<ref>{{cite book |first=X. S. |last=Yang |chapter=Firefly algorithms for multimodal optimization |title=Stochastic Algorithms: Foundations and Applications, SAGA 2009 |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences |volume=5792 |pages=169–178 |year=2009 |arxiv=1003.1466 }}</ref> and could outperform other metaheuristic algorithms including [[particle swarm optimization]].<ref>{{cite book |first=S. |last=Lukasik |first2=S. |last2=Zak |title=Firefly algorithm for continuous constrained optimization task |work=ICCCI 2009, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Eds. N. T. Ngugen, R. Kowalczyk, S. M. Chen) |volume=5796 |pages=97–100 |year=2009 }}</ref>

Most metaheuristic algorithms may have difficulty in dealing with stochastic test functions, and it seems that firefly algorithm can deal with stochastic test functions<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yang |first=X.-S. |title=Firefly algorithm, stochastic test functions and design optimisation |journal=Int. J. Bio-inspired Computation |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=78–84 |year=2010 |arxiv=1003.1409 }}</ref> very efficiently. In addition, FA is also better for dealing with noisy optimization problems with ease of implementation.<ref>{{cite journal |first=N. |last=Chai-ead |first2=P. |last2=Aungkulanon |first3=P. |last3=Luangpaiboon |title=Bees and firefly algorithms for noisy non-linear optimisation problems |work=Prof. Int. Multiconference of Engineers and Computer Scientists 2011 |year=2011 |volume=2 |pages=1449–1454 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=P. |last=Aungkulanon |first2=N. |last2=Chai-ead |first3=P. |last3=Luangpaiboon |title=Simulated manufacturing process improvement via particle swarm optimisation and firefly algorithms |work=Prof. Int. Multiconference of Engineers and Computer Scientists 2011 |volume=2 |pages=1123–1128 |year=2011 }}</ref>

Chatterjee et al.<ref>A. Chatterjee, G. K. Mahanti, and A. Chatterjee, Design of a fully digital controlled reconfigurable switched beam conconcentric ring array antenna using firefly and particle swarm optimization algorithm, Progress in Elelectromagnetic Research B, Vol. 36, 113-131(2012)</ref> showed that the firefly algorithm can be superior to particle swarm optimization in their applications, the effectiveness of the firefly algorithm was further tested in later studies. In addition, firefly algorithm can efficiently solve non-convex problems with complex nonlinear constraints.<ref>X. S. Yang, S. S. Hosseini, A. H. Gandomi, "Firefly algorithm for solving non-convex economic dispatch problems with valve loading effect, ''Applied Soft Computing'', Vol. 12(3), 1180-1186(2012)</ref><ref>A. Abdullah, S. Deris, M. S. Mohamad and S. Z. M. Hashim, A new hybrid firefly algorithm for complex and nonlinear problem, in: Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, 2012, Volume 151/2012, 673-680, {{doi|10.1007/978-3-642-28765-7_81}}</ref>

Further improvement on the performance is also possible with promising results.<ref>S. M. Farahani, A. A. Abshouri, B. Nasiri, M. R. Meybodi, "Some hybrid models to improve firefly algorithm performance, ''Int. J. Artificial Intelligence'', Vol. 8 S(12), 97-117 (2012)</ref><ref>B. Nasiri, M. R. Meybodi, "Speciation-based firefly algorithm for optimization in dynamic environments, ''Int. J. Artificial Intelligence'', Vol. 8 (S12), 118-132 (2012)</ref>

== Variants of Firefly Algorithm ==

A recent, comprehensive review showed that the firefly algorithm and its variants have been used in almost all areas of science<ref>I. Fister, I. Fister Jr., X. S. Yang, J. Brest, "A comprehensive review of firefly algorithms, ''Swarm and Evolutionary Computation'', vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 34-46 (2013).</ref> There are more than twenty variants:

=== Discrete Firefly Algorithm (DFA) ===

A discrete version of Firefly Algorithm, namely, Discrete Firefly Algorithm (DFA) proposed recently by M. K. Sayadi, R. Ramezanian and N. Ghaffari-Nasab can efficiently solve NP-hard scheduling problems.<ref>{{cite journal |first=M. K. |last=Sayadi |first2=R. |last2=Ramezanian |first3=N. |last3=Ghaffari-Nasab |title=A discrete firefly meta-heuristic with local search for makespan minimization in permutation flow shop scheduling problems |journal=Int. J. of Industrial Engineering Computations |volume=1 |issue= |pages=1–10 |year=2010 |url=http://growingscience.com/ijiec/VOL1/IJIEC_2010_7.pdf }}</ref> DFA outperforms existing algorithms such as the ant colony algorithm.

For image segmentation, the FA-based method is far more efficient to Otsu's method and recursive Otsu.<ref>T. Hassanzadeh, H. Vojodi and A. M. E. Moghadam, An image segmentation approach based on maximum variance intra-cluster method and firefly algorithm, in: Proc. of 7th Int. Conf. on Natural Computation (ICNC), pp. 1817-1821 (2011).</ref> Meanwhile, a good implementation of a discrete firefly algorithm for QAP problems has been carried out by Durkota.<ref>K. Durkota,

Implementation of a discrete firefly algorithm for the QAP problem within the sage framework, BSc thesis, Czech Technical University, (2011).

http://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/research/theses/papers/189.pdf</ref>

=== Multiobjective FA ===

An important study of FA was carried out by Apostolopoulos and Vlachos,<ref>{{cite journal |first=T. |last=Apostolopoulos |first2=A. |last2=Vlachos |title=Application of the Firefly Algorithm for Solving the Economic Emissions Load Dispatch Problem |journal=International Journal of Combinatorics |volume=2011 |year=2011 |page=Article ID 523806 |url=http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijct/2011/523806.html }}</ref> which provides a detailed background and analysis over a wide range of test problems including multobjective load dispatch problem.

=== Lagrangian FA ===

An interesting, Lagrangian firefly algorithm is proposed to solve power system optimization unit commitment problems.<ref>Rampriya B., Mahadevan K. and Kannan S., Unit commitment in deregulated power system using Lagrangian firefly algorithm, Proc. of IEEE Int. Conf. on Communication Control and Computing Technologies (ICCCCT), pp. 389-393 (2010).</ref>

=== Chaotic FA ===

A chaotic firefly algorithm (CFA) was developed and found to outperform the previously best-known solutions available.<ref>L. dos Santos Coelho, D. L. de Andrade Bernert, V. C. Mariani, a chaotic firefly algorithm applied to reliability-redundancy optimization, in: 2011 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC'11), pp. 517-521 (2011).</ref>

=== Hybrid Algorithms ===

A [[hybrid algorithm|hybrid]] intelligent scheme has been developed by combining the firefly algorithm with the ant colony optimization.<ref>G. Giannakouris, V. Vassiliadis and G. Dounias, Experimental study on a hybrid nature-inspired algorithm for financial portfolio optimization, SETN 2010, LNAI 6040, pp. 101-111 (2010).</ref>

=== Firefly Algorithm Based Memetic Algorithm===

A firefly algorithm (FA) based memetic algorithm (FA-MA) is proposed to appropriately determine the parameters of SVR forecasting model for electricity load forecasting. In the proposed FA-MA algorithm, the FA algorithm is applied to explore the solution space, and the pattern search is used to conduct individual learning and thus enhance the exploitation of FA.<ref>Zhongyi Hu, Yukun Bao, and Tao Xiong, Electricity Load Forecasting using Support Vector Regression with Memetic Algorithms, The Scientific World Journal, 2014, http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/aip/292575/</ref>

=== Parallel Firefly Algorithm with Predation (pFAP) ===

An implementation for shared memory environments with the addition of a predation mechanism that helps the method to escape local optimum.<ref>E. F. P. Luz, H. F. Campos Velho, J. C. Becceneri, Firefly Algorithm with Predation: A parallel implementation applied to inverse heat conduction problem, in: Proc. of 10th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM 2012), (2012).</ref>

=== Modified Firefly Algorithm ===

Many variants and modifications are done to increase its performance. A particular example will be modified firefly algorithm by Tilahun and Ong .,<ref>S. L. Tilahun, H. C. Ong, Modified Firefly Algorithm, Journal of Applied Mathematics, Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 467631 .</ref> in which the updating process of the brightest firefly is modified to keep the best result throughout the iterations.

== Applications ==

=== Digital Image Compression and Image Processing ===

Very recently, an FF-LBG algorithm for vector quantization of digital image compression was based on the firefly algorithm, which proves to be faster than other algorithms such as [[Particle swarm optimization|PSO]]-LBG and HBMO-LBG (particle swarm optimization and honey-bee mating optimization; variations on the [[Linde–Buzo–Gray algorithm]]).<ref>Horng M.-H. and Jiang T. W., The codebook design of image vector quantization based on the firefly algorithm, in: Computational Collective Intelligence, Technologies and Applications, LNCS, Vol. 6423, pp. 438-447 (2010).</ref>

<ref>M.-H. Horng, vector quantization using the firefly algorithm for image compression, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 38, (article in press) 12 Aug. (2011).</ref> For minimum cross entropy thresholding, firefly-based algorithm uses the least computation time<ref>M.-H. Horng and R.-J Liou, Multilevel minimum cross entropy threshold selection based on the firefly algorithm, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 38, Issue 12, 14805-14811 (2011).</ref> Also, for gel electrophoresis images, FA-based method is very efficient.<ref>M. H. M. Noor, A. R. Ahmad, Z. Hussain, K. A. Ahmad, A. R. Ainihayati, Multilevel thresholding of gel electrophoresis images using firefly algorithm, in: Proceedings of Control System, Computing and Engineering (ICCSCE2011), pp. 18-21 (2011).</ref>

=== Eigenvalue optimization ===

Eigenvalue optimization of isospectral systems has solved by FA and multiple optimum points have been found efficiently.<ref>R. Dutta, R. Ganguli and V. Mani, Exploring isospectral spring-mass systems with firefly algorithm, Proc. Roy. Soc. A.,

Vol. 467, (2011)http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/06/16/rspa.2011.0119.abstract</ref>

=== Nanoelectronic Integrated Circuit and System Design ===

The multiobjective firefly algorithm (MOFA) has been used for the design optimization of a 90&nbsp;nm CMOS based operational amplifier (OP-AMP) which could perform simultaneous power minimization and slew rate maximization within 500 iterations.<ref>G. Zheng, S. P. Mohanty, E. Kougianos, and O. Okobiah, "[http://www.cse.unt.edu/~smohanty/Publications_Conferences/2013/Mohanty_ASAP2013_iVAMS-OPAMP.pdf iVAMS: Intelligent Metamodel-Integrated Verilog-AMS for Circuit-Accurate System-Level Mixed-Signal Design Exploration]", in Proceedings of the 24th IEEE International Conference on Application-specific Systems, Architectures and Processors (ASAP), 2013, pp. 75--78.</ref>

=== Feature selection and fault detection ===

Feature selection can be also carried out successfully using firefly algorithm.<ref>H. Banati and M. Bajaj, Firefly based feature selection approach, Int. J. Computer Science Issues, vol. 8, No. 2, 473-480 (2011).</ref> Real-time fault identification in large systems becomes viable, based on the recent work on fault identification with binary adaptive firefly optimization.<ref>R. Falcon, M. Almeida and A. Nayak, Fault identification with binary adaptive fireflies in parallel and distributed systems, IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, (2011).</ref>

A hybrid filter-wrapper feature selection for load forecasting is proposed based on Firefly Algorithm.<ref>Hu, Z., Bao, Y., Xiong, T., & Chiong, R. (2015). Hybrid filter–wrapper feature selection for short-term load forecasting. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 40, 17-27.</ref>

===Antenna Design===

Firefly algorithms outperforms ABC for optimal design of linear array of isotropic sources <ref>B. Basu and G. K. Mahanti, Firefly and artificial bees colony algorithm for synthesis of scanned and broadside linear array antenna, Progress in Electromagnetic Research B., Vol. 32, 169-190 (2011).</ref> and digital controllable array antenna.<ref>A. Chatterjee, G. K. Mahanti, and A. Chatterjee, Design of a fully digital controlled reconfigurable switched beam conconcentric ring array antenna using firefly and particle swarm optimization algorithm, Progress in Elelectromagnetic Research B, Vol. 36, 113-131(2012)</ref> It has found applications in synthesis of satellite footprint patterns as well.<ref>Anirban Chatterjee, Gautam Kumar Mahanti and Gourab Ghatak, Synthesis of satellite footprint patterns from rectangular planar array antenna by using swarm-based optimization algorithms, Int. J. Satell. Commun. Network. 2014; 32:25–47</ref>

===Structural Design===

For mixed-variable problems, many optimization algorithms may struggle. However, firefly algorithm can efficiently solve optimization problems with mixed variables.<ref>A. H. Gandomi, X. S. Yang, A. H. Alavi, Mixed variable structural optimization using firefly algorithm, Computers and Structures, Vol. 89, No. 23-24, pp. 2325-2336 (2011). {{doi|10.1016/j.compstruc.2011.08.002}}</ref>

=== Scheduling and TSP ===

Firefly-based algorithms for scheduling task graphs and job shop scheduling requires less computing than all other metaheuristics.<ref>U. Hönig, A firefly algorithm-based approach for scheduling task graphs in homogeneous systems, Proceeding Informatics, {{doi|10.2316/P.2010.724-033}}, 724 (2010).</ref><ref>A. Khadwilard, S. Chansombat, T. Thepphakorn, P. Thapatsuwan, W. Chainat, P. Pongcharoen,

Application of firefly algorithm and its parameter setting for job shop scheduling, First Symposius on

Hands-On Research and Development, (2011).</ref>

A binary firefly algorithm has been developed to tackle the knapsack

cryptosystem efficiently<ref>S. Palit, S. Sinha, M. Molla, A. Khanra, M. Kule,

A cryptanalytic attack on the knapsack cryptosystem using binary Firefly algorithm,

in: 2nd Int. Conference on Computer and Communication Technology (ICCCT), 15-17 Sept 2011,India, pp. 428-432 (2011).</ref> Recently, an evolutionary discrete FA has been developed for solving [[travelling salesman problem]]s<ref>G. K. Jati and S. Suyanto, Evolutionary discrete firefly algorithm for travelling salesman problem, ICAIS2011, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI 6943), pp.393-403 (2011).</ref> Further improvement in performance can be obtained by using preferential directions in firefly movements.

===Semantic Web Composition===

A hybrid FA has been developed by Pop et al. for selecting optimal solution in semantic web service composition.<ref>C. B. Pop, V. R. Chifu, I. Salomie,R. B. Baico, M. Dinsoreanu, G. Copil, A hybrid firefly-inspired approach for optimal semantic web service composition, in: Proc. of 2nd Workshop on Software Services: Cloud Computing and Applications, June, 2011.</ref>

=== Chemical Phase equilibrium ===

For phase equilibrium calculations and stability analysis, FA was found to be the most reliable compared with other techniques.<ref>S. E. Fateen, A. Bonilla-Petrociolet, G. P. Rangaiah, Evaluation of covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy, shuffled complex evolution and firefly algorithms for phase stability, phase equilibrium and chemical equilibrium problems, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, May (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2012.04.011</ref>

=== Clustering ===

Performance study for clustering also suggested that firefly algorithm is very efficient.<ref>J. Senthilnath, S. N. Omkar and V. Mani, Clustering using firefly algorithm: Performance study, Swarm and Evolutionary Computation, June (2011). {{doi|10.1016/j.swevo.2011.06.003}}</ref>

===Dynamic Problems===

Firefly algorithm can solve optimization problems in dynamic environments very efficiently.

<ref>S. M. Farahani, B. Nasiri and M. R. Meybodi, A multiswarm based firefly algorithm in dynamic environments, Third Int. Conference on Signal Processing Systems (ICSPS2011), Aug 27-28, Yantai, China, pp. 68-72 (2011)</ref><ref>A. A. Abshouri, M. R. Meybodi and A. Bakhtiary, New firefly algorithm based on multiswarm and learning automata in dynamic environments, Third Int. Conference on Signal Processing Systems (ICSPS2011), Aug 27-28, Yantai, China, pp. 73-77 (2011).</ref>

===Rigid Image Registration Problems===

Firefly algorithm can solve the rigid image registration problems more efficient than genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, and artificial bee colony <ref>Yudong Zhang and Lenan Wu, A Novel Method for Rigid Image Registration based on Firefly Algorithm, International Journal of Research and Reviews in Soft and Intelligent Computing, vol.2, no.2, pp. 141-146 (2012).</ref>

=== Protein Structure Prediction ===

Prediction of protein structures is NP-hard, and a recent study by Maher et al.<ref>

B. Maher, A. Albrecht, M. Loomes, X. S. Yang, K. Steinhofel, A firefly-inspired method for protein structure prediction in lattice models, Biomolucules, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 56-75 (2014).</ref> shows that firefly-based methods can speed up the predictions.

Firefly algorithm can solve two dimensional HP model. In their experiment, they took 14 sequences of different chain lengths from 18 to 100 as the dataset and compared the FA with standard genetic algorithm and immune genetic algorithm. The averaged energy convergence results show that FA achieves the lowest values.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Yudong|first1=Zhang|last2=Lenan|first2=Wu|last3=Shuihua|first3=Wang|title=Solving Two-Dimensional HP model by Firefly Algorithm and Simplified Energy Function|journal=Mathematical Problems in Engineering|date=2013|volume=2013|doi=10.1155/2013/398141|url=http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/398141/|pages=1–9}}</ref>

=== Parameter Optimization of SVM ===

Firefly algorithm (FA)is applied to determine the paraemters of MSVR (Multiple-output support vector regression) in interval-valued stock price index forecasting.<ref>Tao Xiong, Yukun Bao, Zhongyi Hu: Multiple-output support vector regression with a firefly algorithm for interval-valued stock price index forecasting. Knowl.-Based Syst. 55: 87-100 (2014), http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950705113003237</ref>

Meanwhile, a firefly algorithm (FA) based memetic algorithm (FA-MA) is proposed to appropriately determine the parameters of SVR forecasting model for electricity load forecasting. In the proposed FA-MA algorithm, the FA algorithm is applied to explore the solution space, and the pattern search is used to conduct individual learning and thus enhance the exploitation of FA.<ref>Zhongyi Hu, Yukun Bao, and Tao Xiong, Electricity Load Forecasting using Support Vector Regression with Memetic Algorithms, The Scientific World Journal, 2014, http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/aip/292575/</ref>

=== IK-FA, Solving Inverse Kinematics using FA ===

FA, heuristic is used as inverse kinematics solver. The proposal is called IK-FA, for inverse Kinematics using Firefly Algorithm. Inverse kinematic consists in finding a valuable joints solution allowing achieving a specific end segment position. The proposed method used a forward kinematics model, the FA heuristic, a fitness function and a set of motions constraints, to solve inverse kinematics.<ref>Rokbani, Nizar, et al. "IK-FA, Inverse Kinematics Using Firefly Algorithm with Application to Biped Gait Generation, International Conference on Control, Engineering & Information Technology (CEIT’14), Tunisia, 2014</ref>

==See also==

* [[Evolutionary multi-modal optimization]]

* [[Glowworm swarm optimization]] (GSO)

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://code.google.com/p/csc6810project/ Firefly Algorithm implemented in Python]

* [https://github.com/firefly-cpp/Firefly-algorithm--FFA- Firefly Algorithm in C/C++]

* [http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/29693-firefly-algorithm Firefly Algorithm in Matlab or Octave]

{{collective animal behaviour}}

{{Optimization algorithms}}

[[Category:Optimization algorithms and methods]]

[[Category:Image processing]]

[[Category:Swarm Intelligence]]

[[Category:Metaheuristic]]

[[Category:Evolutionary algorithms]]

==See also==