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The Bees Algorithm – Modelling Foraging Behaviour to Solve Continuous Optimisation Problems

The Bees Algorithm models the foraging behaviour of honey bees in order to solve complex optimisation problems. The algorithm performs a kind of exploitative neighbourhood search combined with random explorative search. This talk describes the Bees Algorithm, and how it relates to other swarm intelligence techniques. The effectiveness of the Bees Algorithm is compared to that of three state-of-the-art biologically inspired search methods. The four algorithms were tested on a range of well known benchmark function optimisation problems of different degrees of complexity. The experimental results proved the reliability of the bees foraging metaphor. The experimental tests helped also to shed further light on the search mechanisms of the Bees Algorithm and the three control methods, and to highlight their differences, strengths, and weaknesses.