Penguins Huddling Optimisation

Abstract

In our everyday life, people deal with many optimisation problems, some of which trivial and some more complex. These problems have been frequently addressed using multi-agent, population-based approaches. One of the main sources of inspiration for techniques applicable to complex search space and optimisation problems is nature. This paper proposes a new metaheuristic – Penguin Huddling Optimisation or PHO – whose inspiration is beckoned from the huddling behaviour of emperor penguins in Antarctica. The simplicity of the algorithm, which is the implementation of one such paradigm for continuous optimisation, facilitates the analysis of its behaviour and the derivation of the optimal value for its single adjustable parameter in the update equation. A series of experimental trials confirms the promising performance of the optimiser over a set of benchmarks, as well as its competitiveness when compared against few other well-known population based algorithms.