Moth Swarm Algorithm (MSA)
In the MSA, the possible solution of optimization problem is represented
by position of light source, and the fitness/quality of this solution is
considered as luminescence intensity of the light source [19]. These
assumptions have been used to approximate the characteristics of the
proposed algorithm. In addition, the proposed moth swarm is considered
to consist of three groups of moths, as follows:
Pathfinders , which main task is to discriminate the best
positions as a light sources to guide the movement of the main swarm
(i.e, light the way);
Prospectors , that tends to wander into a random spiral path
within the neighborhood of the light sources, which have been marked by
the pathfinders;
Onlookers is a group of moths that drift directly toward the best
global solution (moonlight), which has been obtained by prospectors.
At any iteration, each moth (search agent) is incorporated into the
optimization problem to find the luminescence intensity of its
corresponding light source (fitness). The best fitnesses in the swarm
are considered as the positions of the pathfinders, and guidance for the
next update iteration. Hence, the second and third best groups take the
name of the prospectors and onlookers, respectively. The equations for
updating the positions of moths are given in [19].