A comparison of optimization techniques for Loney's solenoids design: an alternative Tabu Search algorithm

A global optimization procedure based on Tabu Search metaheuristic is applied to solve electromagnetic inverse problems. In particular, some benchmark problems have been considered consisting of designing systems of Loney's solenoids. The results obtained implementing different Tabu Search strategies are compared to those presented in the literature. The comparison shows that the optimality of the solutions can be noticeably improved without increasing the computational effort. Moreover, the importance of using hybrid heuristics has been highlighted in the case of difficult problems.