Wireless sensor networks-based adaptive differential evolution for multimodal optimization problems

In wireless sensor networks (WSN), we often detect the monitoring areas among different sensors so that the sensors can be switched on and off adaptively to save energy and extend their lifetime. Inspired by the principle of WSN, a WSN-based adaptive differential evolution (WSNADE) algorithm is proposed in this paper, together with a WSN-based adaptive niching technique (WANT) and two novel strategies called protection-based dual-scale mutation (PDM) strategy and multi-level reset (MLR) strategy, for solving multimodal optimization problems (MMOPs). In WANT, each individual is considered as a sensor with its monitoring area. If the monitoring areas of two individuals intersect, which means these two individuals monitor the similar area and should be partitioned into the same niche. In this way, WANT can adaptively form a niche for each individual, avoiding the sensitivity of niching parameters. Based on WANT, the PDM strategy is designed to select the appropriate mutation strategy for each individual. Besides, to save fitness evaluations (FEs) for exploring more promising areas, the MLR strategy is developed to store the promising individuals and reset the stagnant individuals. The experimental results on 20 multimodal benchmark test functions in CEC2015 multimodal competition show that the proposed WSNADE algorithm generally performs better than or at least comparable with other state-of-the-art multimodal algorithms, including the winner of the CEC2015 competition. Finally, WSNADE is applied to a real-world multimodal application in multiple competitive facilities location design (MCFLD) problem to illustrate its practical applicability.