Abstract
The Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) outperforms well-known algorithms such as particle swarm optimizers and grey wolf optimizers in complex optimization challenges. However, like most meta-heuristic algorithms, SSA suffers from slow convergence and stagnation in the best local solution. In this study, a Salp swarm algorithm (SSA) is combined with a local escaping operator (LEO) to overcome some inherent limitations of the original SSA. SSALEO is a novel search technique that accounts for population diversity, the imbalance between exploitation and exploration, and the SSA algorithm's premature convergence. By implementing LEO in SSALEO, the search slowdown in SSA is eliminated, and the local search efficiency of swarm agents is improved. The proposed SSALEO method is tested using the CEC 2017 benchmark with 50 and 100 decision variables, seven CEC2008lsgo test functions with 200, 500, and 1000 decision variables, and its performance was compared to other metaheuristic algorithms (MAs) and advanced algorithms, including seven Salp swarm variants. The comparisons show that SSA greatly benefits from LEO by enhancing the quality and accelerating its solutions' convergence rate. The SSALEO was then assessed using a benchmark set of seven well-known constrained design challenges in various engineering domains defined in the CEC 2020 conference benchmark. Friedman and Wilcoxon rank-sum statistical tests are also used to examine the results. According to experimental data and statistical tests, the SSALEO algorithm is very competitive and often superior to the algorithms used in the studies. Further, the proposed approach can be viewed as a special LSGO optimizer whose performance exceeds that of specialized state-of-the-art algorithms like CMA-ES and SHADE.