Inspirations from Nature for Meta-Heuristic Algorithms: A Survey

Background: Nature-Inspired Algorithms (NIAs) are the most efficient way to solve advanced engineering and real-world optimization problems. Since the last few decades, various researchers have proposed an immense number of NIAs. These NIAs get inspiration from natural phenomenon. A young researcher attempting to undertake or solve a problem using NIAs is bogged down by a plethora of proposals that exist today. Not every algorithm is suited for all kinds of problem. Some scores over others. Objective: This paper presents a comprehensive study of seven NIAs, which have new and unique inspirations. This study shall useful to easily understand the fundamentals of NIAs for any new entrant. Conclusion: Here, we classify the NIAs as natural evolution based, swarm intelligence based, biological based, science based and others. In this survey, well-establish and relatively new NIAs, namely- Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA), Firefly Algorithm (FA), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA), Jaya Algorithm and Anti-Predatory NIA (APNIA), have been studied. This study presents a theoretical perspective of NIAs in a simplified form based on its source of inspiration, mathematical formulations, control parameters, features, variants and area of application, where these algorithms have been successfully applied.