A Cooperative Harmony Search Algorithm for Function Optimization

Harmony search algorithm (HS) is a new metaheuristic algorithm which is inspired by a process involving musical improvisation. HS is a stochastic optimization technique that is similar to genetic algorithms (GAs) and particle swarm optimizers (PSOs). It has been widely applied in order to solve many complex optimization problems, including continuous and discrete problems, such as structure design, and function optimization. A cooperative harmony search algorithm (CHS) is developed in this paper, with cooperative behavior being employed as a significant improvement to the performance of the original algorithm. Standard HS just uses one harmony memory and all the variables of the object function are improvised within the harmony memory, while the proposed algorithm CHS uses multiple harmony memories, so that each harmony memory can optimize different components of the solution vector. The CHS was then applied to function optimization problems. The results of the experiment show that CHS is capable of finding better solutions when compared to HS and a number of other algorithms, especially in high-dimensional problems.