20.500.12556/DKUM-95839 Improving mutation strategies in differential evolution with a new pbest selection mechanism Differential evolution, which belongs to a group of population-based algorithms, has received a lot of research attention since its introduction in 1995. A population-based algorithm is required to guide individuals to visit potentially better basins of attraction in the search space when searching for a globally optimal solution. Additionally, individuals need to interact with each other during an evolutionary process to explore the search space effectively. In this paper, we propose a novel pbest selection mechanism for DE/current-to-pbest mutation strategy and its variants designed to enhance the potential for exploration of different attraction basins. The proposed mechanism enforces a minimal distance between the selected pbest individual and all other better individuals. This means that possible candidates for the pbest individual, used in mutation, are further spaced apart. As a result, the likelihood that the new trial vector will be generated in a different attraction basin of the search space is increased. The mechanism is incorporated into the L-SHADE, jSO, and L-SRTDE algorithms, and its effectiveness is evaluated using CEC’24 benchmark functions. Experimental results demonstrate improvements in the performance of the selected algorithms, particularly in higher-dimensional problem instances. population-based algorithm differential evolution gobal optimization mutation strategies exploration–exploitation algorithmi diferencialna evolucija globalna optimizacija true false true Elsevier B.V. Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568494625012918?via%3Dihub © 2025 The Authors Članek v reviji 2025-10-29 15:42:11 2025-10-29 15:42:11 2025-10-30 03:15:37 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 17 str. part B, [article no.] 113978 Vol. 185 Dec. 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2025-06-11 2025-09-24 2025-09-27 004.8 255045123 doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2025.113978 1872-9681 1-s2.0-S1568494625012918-main.pdf 1-s2.0-S1568494625012918-main.pdf 1 35CB2D388F8B34FE37466DA458FC8753 7baf002de197775515c74345ccd32edcf53df812a3c6098ee76ba3fc824effac d14c4141-b4d5-11f0-852c-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=200264 Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko 0 0 0