Harris Hawks optimization with information exchange

• An enhanced HHO algorithm with information exchange is proposed to optimize function and engineering application problems. • Nonlinear escaping energy with chaotic perturbation is designed to balance global exploration and local exploitation capacity. • Comparison of experiment with other algorithms shows that the IEHHO algorithm can acquire better performance. The basic Harris Hawks optimization algorithm cannot take full advantage of the information sharing capability of the Harris Hawks while cooperatively searching for prey, and it is difficult to balance the exploration and development capacities of this algorithm. These factors limit the Harris Hawks optimization algorithm, such as in terms of premature convergence and ease of falling into a local optimum. To this end, an improved Harris Hawks optimization algorithm based on information exchange is proposed to optimize the continuous function and its application to engineering problems. First, an individual Harris Hawk obtains information from the shared area of cooperative foraging and the location area of collaborators , thereby realizing information exchange and sharing. Second, a nonlinear escaping energy factor with chaos disturbance is designed to better balance the local searching and the global searching of the algorithm. Finally, a numerical experiment is conducted with four benchmark test functions and five CEC-2017 real-parameter numerical optimization problems as well as seven practical engineering problems. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the basic Harris Hawks optimization algorithm and other intelligence optimization algorithms in terms of the convergence rate, solution accuracy, and robustness.