On the Binarization of Grey Wolf Optimizer‎: ‎A Novel Binary Optimizer Algorithm

Abstract ‎Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) is a population-based evolutionary algorithm inspired by the hunting behaviour of grey wolves‎. ‎GWO‎, ‎in its basic form‎, ‎is a real coded algorithm‎, ‎therefore‎, ‎it needs modifications to deal with binary optimization problems‎. ‎In this paper‎, ‎we review previous works on binarization of GWO‎, ‎and classify them with respect to their encoding scheme‎, ‎updating strategy‎, ‎and transfer function‎. ‎Then‎, ‎we propose a novel binary GWO algorithm (named SetGWO)‎, ‎which is based on set encoding and uses set operations in its updating strategy‎. ‎Experimental results on different real-world combinatorial optimization problems and different datasets‎, ‎show that SetGWO outperforms other existing binary GWO algorithms in terms of quality of solutions‎, ‎running time‎, ‎and scalability‎.