A survey of the dendritic cell algorithm

The dendritic cell algorithm (DCA) is a classification algorithm based on the functioning of natural immune dendritic cells. Recently, the DCA has caught the attention of researchers due to its worthy characteristics as it exhibits several interesting and potentially beneficial features for binary classification problems. Although the studies related with the DCA are increasingly becoming popular giving rise to several DCA hybrid algorithms, according to our best knowledge, there is no study summarizing the basic features of these algorithms nor their application areas all in one paper. Therefore, this study aims at summarizing the powerful characteristics of the DCA as well as making a general review of it. In addition, the DCA hybrid algorithms are reviewed and open research areas are discussed for further research.