Painted Wolf Optimization: A Novel Nature-Inspired Metaheuristic Algorithm for Real-World Optimization Problems

Metaheuristic optimization algorithms continue to be essential for solving complex real-world problems, yet existing methods often struggle with balancing exploration and exploitation across diverse problem landscapes. This paper proposes a novel nature-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm named the Painted Wolf Optimization (PWO) algorithm. The main inspiration for the PWO algorithm is the group behavior and hunting strategy of painted wolves, also known as African wild dogs in the wild, particularly their unique consensus-based voting rally mechanism, a behavior fundamentally distinct from the social dynamics of grey wolves. In this innovative process, pack members explore different areas to find prey; then, they hold a pre-hunting voting rally based on the alpha member to determine who will begin the hunt and attack the prey. The efficiency of the proposed PWO algorithm is evaluated by a comparison study with other well-known optimization algorithms on 33 test functions, including the Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 2017 suite and different real-world engineering design cases. Furthermore, the algorithm’s performance is further tested across a spectrum of optimization problems with extensive unknown search spaces. This includes its application within the field of cybersecurity, specifically in the context of training a machine learning-based intrusion detection system (ML-IDS), achieving an accuracy of 0.90 and an F-measure of 0.9290. Statistical analyses using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (all $p<0.05$) indicate that the PWO algorithm outperforms existing state-of-the-art algorithms, providing superior solutions in diverse and unpredictable optimization landscapes. This demonstrates its potential as a robust method for tackling complex optimization problems in various fields. The source code for the PWO algorithm is publicly available at https://github.com/saeidsheikhi/Painted-Wolf-Optimization.