Single candidate optimizer: a novel optimization algorithm

Abstract Single-solution-based optimization algorithms have gained little to no attention by the research community, unlike population-based approaches. This paper proposes a novel optimization algorithm, called Single Candidate Optimizer (SCO), that relies only on a single candidate solution throughout the whole optimization process. The proposed algorithm implements a unique set of equations to effectively update the position of the candidate solution. To balance exploration and exploitation, SCO is integrated with the two-phase strategy where the candidate solution updates its position differently in each phase. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by testing it on thirty three classical benchmarking functions and four real-world engineering problems. SCO is compared with three well-known optimization algorithms, i.e., Particle Swarm Optimization, Grey Wolf Optimizer, and Gravitational Search Algorithm and with four recent high-performance algorithms: Equilibrium Optimizer, Archimedes Optimization Algorithm, Mayfly Algorithm, and Salp Swarm Algorithm. According to Friedman and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, SCO can significantly outperform all other algorithms for the majority of the investigated problems. The results achieved by SCO motivates the design and development of new single-solution-based optimization algorithms to further improve the performance. The source code of SCO is publicly available at: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/116100-single-candidate-optimizer .