BAT ALGORITHM: A SURVEY OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ART

The area of metaheuristic optimization algorithms has been attracting researchers for many years. These algorithms have built in capability to explore a large region of the solution space, are computationally robust, efficient and can avoid premature convergence. They have been extensively tested and applied on many hard optimization problems where conventional computing techniques perform unsatisfactorily. They are capable of solving general N-dimensional, linear, nonlinear and complex global optimization problems. One of the latest entrants in this field is the Bat algorithm which is based on the echolocation behaviour of bats. It has been proven to have good convergence properties on different benchmark functions and seems promising for dealing with optimization problems. The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of the state of the art on Bat algorithm. A concise effort has been made so that the readers get a rapid insight into some of the applications upon which bat algorithm has been applied till date in specialized fields of science and engineering. Some of the variants of the bat algorithm as reported in the literature have also been discussed.