Problem-specific knowledge based artificial bee colony algorithm for the rectangle layout optimization problem in satellite design

Abstract

The layout optimization problem is brought from the design of the recoverable satellite, where a set of objects (equipments or devices) are required to be installed on a circular load board. The aim of the problem is to find a layout of the objects with no interference, less unbalance, and less space occupied. Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithms show good performance in many engineering problems. In this article, based on the analysis of the solution distribution, a problemspecific knowledge based ABC is proposed, which is configured with special initialization and parameter settings. On an open benchmark with ten instances, the proposed ABC is compared with two widely used algorithms. Its performance outperforms the genetic algorithm on all the instances, and outperforms the quasi-human algorithm on nine instances.