Refining the Eel and Grouper Optimizer with Intelligent Modifications for Global Optimization

Global optimization is used in many practical and scientific problems. For this reason, various computational techniques have been developed. Particularly important are the evolutionary techniques, which simulate natural phenomena with the aim of detecting the global minimum in complex problems. A new evolutionary method is the Eel and Grouper Optimization (EGO) algorithm, inspired by the symbiotic relationship and foraging strategy of eels and groupers in marine ecosystems. In the present work, a series of improvements are proposed that aim both at the efficiency of the algorithm to discover the total minimum of multidimensional functions and at the reduction in the required execution time through the effective reduction in the number of functional evaluations. These modifications include the incorporation of a stochastic termination technique as well as an improvement sampling technique. The proposed modifications are tested on multidimensional functions available from the relevant literature and compared with other evolutionary methods.