A Firefly Algorithm for Mixed-Variable Optimization Based on Hybrid Distance Modeling
arXiv:2603.26792v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Several real-world optimization problems involve mixed-variable search spaces, where continuous, ordinal, and categorical decision variables coexist. However, most population-based metaheuristic algorithms are designed for either continuous or discrete optimization problems and do not naturally handle heterogeneous variable types. In this paper, we propose an adaptation of the Firefly Algorithm for mixed-variable optimization problems (FAmv). The proposed method relies on a modified distance-based attractiveness mechanism that integrates continuous and discrete components within a unified […]