Hybrid flower pollination algorithm with rough sets for feature selection

Flower pollination algorithm (FPA) optimization is a new evolutionary computation technique that inspired from the pollination process of flowers. In this paper, a model for multi-objective feature selection based on flower pollination algorithm (FPA) optimization hybrid with rough set is proposed. The proposed model exploits the capabilities of filter-based feature selection and wrapper-based feature selection. Filter-based approach can be described as data oriented methods that not directly related to classification performance. Wrapper-based approach is more related to classification performance but it does not face redundancy and dependency among the selected feature set. Therefore, we proposed a multi-objective fitness function that uses FPA to the find optimal feature subset. The multi-objective fitness function enhances classification performance and guarantees minimum redundancy among selected features. At begin of the optimization process, fitness function uses mutual information among feature as a goal for optimization. While at some later time and using the same population, the fitness function is switched to be more classifier dependent and hence exploits rough-set classifier as a guide to classification performance. The proposed model was tested on eight datasets form UCI data repository and proves advance over other search methods as particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA).