Optimization using lion algorithm: a biological inspiration from lion’s social behavior

Nature-inspired optimization algorithms, especially evolutionary computation-based and swarm intelligence-based algorithms are being used to solve a variety of optimization problems. Motivated by the obligation of having optimization algorithms, a novel optimization algorithm based on a lion’s unique social behavior had been presented in our previous work. Territorial defense and territorial takeover were the two most popular lion’s social behaviors. This paper takes the algorithm forward on rigorous and diverse performance tests to demonstrate the versatility of the algorithm. Four different test suites are presented in this paper. The first two test suites are benchmark optimization problems. The first suite had comparison with published results of evolutionary and few renowned optimization algorithms, while the second suite leads to a comparative study with state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. The test suite 3 takes the large-scale optimization problems, whereas test suite 4 considers benchmark engineering problems. The performance statistics demonstrate that the lion algorithm is equivalent to certain optimization algorithms, while outperforming majority of the optimization algorithms. The results also demonstrate the trade-off maintainability of the lion algorithm over the traditional algorithms.