An Experimental Study of a Fuzzy Adaptive Emperor Penguin Optimizer for Global Optimization Problem

Emperor Penguin Optimizer (EPO) is a recently developed population-based meta-heuristic algorithm that simulates the huddling behavior of emperor penguins. Mixed results have been observed on the performance of EPO in solving general optimization problems. Within the EPO, two parameters need to be tuned (namely
${f}$
and
${l}$
) to ensure a good balance between exploration (i.e., roaming unknown locations) and exploitation (i.e., manipulating the current known best). Since the search contour varies depending on the optimization problem, the tuning of
$f$
and
$l$
is problem-dependent, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. To alleviate these problems, an adaptive mechanism can be introduced in EPO. This paper proposes a fuzzy adaptive variant of EPO, namely Fuzzy Adaptive Emperor Penguin Optimizer (FAEPO), to solve this problem. As the name suggests, FAEPO can adaptively tune the parameters
$f$
and
$l$
throughout the search based on three measures (i.e., quality, success rate, and diversity of the current search) via fuzzy decisions. A test suite of twelve optimization benchmark test functions and three global optimization problems (Team Formation Optimization - TFO, Low Autocorrelation Binary Sequence - LABS, and Modified Condition/Decision Coverage - MC/DC test case generation) were solved using the proposed algorithm. The respective solution results of the benchmark meta-heuristic algorithms were compared. The experimental results demonstrate that FAEPO significantly improved the performance of its predecessor (EPO) and gives superior performance against the competing meta-heuristic algorithms, including an improved variant of EPO (IEPO).