A new effective operator for the hybrid algorithm for solving global optimisation problems

Hybrid algorithms have been recently used to solve complex single-objective optimisation problems. The ultimate goal is to find an optimised global solution by using these algorithms. Based on the existing algorithms (HP_CRO, PSO, RCCRO), this study proposes a new hybrid algorithm called MPC (Mean-PSO-CRO), which utilises a new Mean-Search Operator. By employing this new operator, the proposed algorithm improves the search ability on areas of the solution space that the other operators of previous algorithms do not explore. Specifically, the Mean-Search Operator helps find the better solutions in comparison with other algorithms. Moreover, the authors have proposed two parameters for balancing local and global search and between various types of local search, as well. In addition, three versions of this operator, which use different constraints, are introduced. The experimental results on 23 benchmark functions, which are used in previous works, show that our framework can find better optimal or close-to-optimal solutions with faster convergence speed for most of the benchmark functions, especially the high-dimensional functions. Thus, the proposed algorithm is more effective in solving single-objective optimisation problems than the other existing algorithms.