A modified immune network algorithm for multimodal electromagnetic problems

Some optimization algorithms based on theories from immunology have the feature of finding an arbitrary number of optima, including the global solution. However, this advantage comes at the cost of a large number of objective function evaluations, in most cases, prohibitive in electromagnetic design. This paper proposes a modified version of the artificial immune network algorithm (opt-AINet) for electromagnetic design optimization. The objective of this modified AINet (m-AINet) is to reduce the computational effort required by the algorithm, while keeping or improving the convergence characteristics. Another improvement proposed is to make it more suitable for constrained problems through the utilization of a specific constraint-handling technique. The results obtained over an analytical problem and the design of an electromagnetic device show the applicability of the proposed algorithm.