Degree Program MSc in Electrical Power and Control Engineering

(Control Engineering)
Course Title: Advanced Optimization Techniques (Course Code
EPCE6302) Credits 3; Contact Hours/week Lecture 2, Tutorial
Practice/Laboratory 3

Course Instructor: Dr Endalew Ayenew, Address SoEEC Building

Room 8: E-mail:endalewayenew@gmail.com
Adama Science and Technology University School of Electrical
Engineering and Computing Department of Electrical Power and
Control Engineering
Flower Pollination Optimization Algorithm (FPOA)
Pollination is a natural mechanism for the reproduction of flowering plants and is
defined as transfer of pollen from one flower flag to the pistil stigma of the same
flower or another flower of the same plant species. Pollen has both vegetative and
reproductive cells. After sitting pollen on the pistil stigma, the vegetative cell
multiplies and forms a pollen tube. A reproductive cell can be divided into two cells
along its patch, reaching the ovary by a pollen tube. One of the reproductive cells is
fertilized by an egg cell, forming a zygote. Thus, a new plant forms whit growth
zygote.
There are two types of pollination according to pollen transfer methods:
(1)biotic pollination, For most (90% ) flowering plants, biotic pollination is done by
pollinators such as insects or animals. and
(2) abiotic pollination (10%): it does not require the transfer of pollen by living organisms.
Instead, it is done by
water, wind, or gravity as pollinators. When pollens are delivered from one plant to another
of the same type, such pollination is called cross-pollination and self-pollination occurs when
pollen is delivered to the same flower or flowers of the same plant.
Flower Pollination Optimization Algorithm (FPOA)
Developed by Xin-She Yang (2012) for global optimization. For detail refer Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms,
Elsevier, (2014).
The Algorithm
The biotic pollination, cross-pollination, abiotic pollination and self-pollination
strategies are defined in domain optimization and embedded in the flower
pollination algorithm. The pollination process includes a series of complex
mechanisms in plant production strategies. A flower and its pollen gametes
form a solution of the optimization problem.
Global pollination occurs with a probability that is called switch probability.
If this step is removed, local pollination replaces it.
In the FPOA algorithm four rules are followed:
(1) live pollination and cross-pollination are considered as global pollination and the
carriers or pollen pollinators move in a way that follows lévy fight;
(2) abiotic and self-pollination are considered as local pollination;
(3) pollinators including insects can develop flower constancy. Flower constancy is
production probability that is proportional to the similarity of two involved flowers;
and
(4) the interaction of global and local pollination can be controlled by switch probability.
In short,

Refer: Yang, X.S., Flower pollination algorithm for global optimization. In: Unconventional
Computation and Natural Computation. Lecture Notes in Computer Science vol. 7445, 240{249,
Springer, Berlin (2012).
Here, xi is the solution vector (or position of nest i) and g is the current best.
where xit = pollen or solution vector at iteration t; g* = the current best solution
among all current generation solutions;ϒ= a scale factor for controlling step size;
and L = strength of pollination, which is a step size related to the levy distribution.
where xtj and xtk = two pollens from different flowers of the same plant.
Mathematically, if xtj and xtk come from the same species or are selected from the
same population, this becomes a local random walk if ɛ has a uniform distribution in
[0,1]. Yang (2012) suggested to start the modelling with p = 0.5 and ʎ = 1.5.
Fig. Flowchart of the FPOA
FPOA Pseudocode
FPOA demonstration using the Himmelblau Function

FPOA can find all these four minima simultaneously.

FPOA can be used to solve optimization of constrained Multi-objective function like