Al-Biruni Earth Radius (BER) Metaheuristic Search Optimization Algorithm

Metaheuristic optimization algorithms present an effective method for solving several optimization problems from various types of applications and fields. Several metaheuristics and evolutionary optimization algorithms have been emerged recently in the literature and gained widespread attention, such as particle swarm optimization (PSO), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), grey wolf optimization algorithm (GWO), genetic algorithm (GA), and gravitational search algorithm (GSA). According to the literature, no one metaheuristic optimization algorithm can handle all present optimization problems. Hence novel optimization methodologies are still needed. The Al-Biruni earth radius (BER) search optimization algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed algorithm was motivated by the behavior of swarm members in achieving their global goals. The search space around local solutions to be explored is determined by Al-Biruni earth radius calculation method. A comparative analysis with existing state-of-the-art optimization algorithms corroborated the findings of BER's validation and testing against seven mathematical optimization problems. The results show that BER can both explore and avoid local optima. BER has also been tested on an engineering design optimization problem. The results reveal that, in terms of performance and capability, BER outperforms the performance of state-of-the-art metaheuristic optimization algorithms.