Abstract: The Multilevel Ant Stigmergy Algorithm (MASA) is a new approach to solving multi-parameter problems based on stigmergy, a type of collective work that can be observed in nature. In this paper we evaluate the performance of MASA regarding its applicability as numerical optimization technique. The evaluation is performed with several widely used benchmarks functions, as well as on an industrial case study. We also compare the MASA with Differential Evolution, well-known numerical optimization algorithm. The average solution obtained with the MASA was better than a solution recently found using Differential Evolution.
Keywords: Ant-based algorithm, multilevel approach, numerical optimization, stigmergy.