Abstract
The stagnation phenomena regularly happen in solving complex optimization problems by a class of computational intelligence algorithms which lack theoretical guidance for their parameters setting. The search characteristics of these algorithms are analyzed in this paper, based on which an adaptive computational intelligence optimization algorithm called cloud drops algorithm is proposed by adopting a cloud model to express the randomness and fuzziness of its search process. The cloud drops algorithm is characterized by representing, mining and recreating the uncertain knowledge about its search process for the optimal solution. None of search parameters are predefined in the proposed algorithm and, whatever the initial solution set is, the whole system can adaptively approach to the global optimum. Based on the theory of stochastic processes, the almost sure convergence of the proposed algorithm is proved under certain conditions by introducing a martingale approach into traditional Markov Chain analysis. Two benchmark problems are tested with the proposed algorithm and the other two existing algorithms as a comparison. The results show that the proposed algorithm has faster convergence speed, better self-adaptability, and stronger ability to deal with stagnation phenomena effectively.