Improved data clustering using multi-trial vector-based differential evolution with Gaussian crossover

Many algorithms have been proposed to solve the clustering problem. However, most of them lack a proper strategy to maintain a good balance between exploration and exploitation to prevent premature convergence. Multi-Trial Vector-based Differential Evolution (MTDE) is an improved differential evolution (DE) algorithm that is done by combining three strategies and distributing the population between these strategies to avoid getting stuck at a local optimum. In addition, it records inferior solutions to share information about visited regions with solutions of the next generations. In this paper, an Improved version of the Multi-Trial Vector-based Differential Evolution (IMTDE) algorithm is proposed and adapted for clustering data. The purpose here is to enhance the balance between the exploration and exploitation mechanisms in MTDE by employing Gaussian crossover and modifying the sub-population distribution between the strategies. To evaluate the performance of the proposed clustering, 19 datasets with different dimensions, shapes, and sizes were employed. The obtained results of IMTDE demonstrate improvement in MTDE performance by an average of 12%. Our comparative study with state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrates the superiority of IMTDE in most of these datasets because of the effective search strategies and the sharing of previous experiences in generating more promising solutions. Source code is available on Github: https://github.com/parhamhadikhani/IMTDE-Clustering.