IHSSAO: An Improved Hybrid Salp Swarm Algorithm and Aquila Optimizer for UAV Path Planning in Complex Terrain

In this paper, we propose a modified hybrid Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) and Aquila Optimizer (AO) named IHSSAO for UAV path planning in complex terrain. The primary logic of the proposed IHSSAO is to enhance the performance of AO by introducing the leader mechanism of SSA, tent chaotic map, and pinhole imaging opposition-based learning strategy. Firstly, the tent chaotic map is utilized to substitute the randomly generated initial population in the original algorithm to increase the diversity of the initial individuals. Secondly, we integrate the leader mechanism of SSA into the position update formulation of the basic AO, which enables the search individuals to fully utilize the optimal solution information and enhances the global search capability of AO. Thirdly, we introduce the pinhole imaging opposition-based learning in the proposed IHSSAO to enhance the capability to escape from the local optimization. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed IHSSAO algorithm, we tested it against SSA, AO, and five other advanced meta-heuristic algorithms on 23 classical benchmark functions and 17 IEEE CEC2017 test functions. The experimental results indicate that the proposed IHSSAO is superior to the other seven algorithms in most cases. Eventually, we applied the IHSSAO, SSA, and AO to solve the UAV path planning problem. The experimental results verify that the IHSSAO is superior to the basic SSA and AO for solving the UAV path planning problem in complex terrain.