An Improved Harmony Search Algorithm for Continuous Optimization Problems

The harmony search (HS) algorithm is a recently developed meta-heuristic algorithm, this paper presents an improved diversified harmony search algorithm (IDHS) for solving continuous optimization problems. Limiting the number of identical harmonies stored in the harmony memory can increase the diversity of solutions. Pitch adjusting rate (PAR) is one of the parameters of HS. Starting with a maximal PAR and ending with a minimal PAR can produce better results. A combination of the above two methods for solving continuous optimization problems is investigated in this paper. Simulation results of the IDHS are compared with other HS approaches including classical HS and global-best HS. The computational results reveal that the proposed IDHS algorithm is more effective in enhancing the solution quality than other HS approaches.