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A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lee, Jin Ree
Other Authors: Engelbrecht, Andries
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Lee, Jin Ree
author2 Engelbrecht, Andries
author_browse Engelbrecht, Andries
Lee, Jin Ree
author_facet Engelbrecht, Andries
Lee, Jin Ree
author_sort Lee, Jin Ree
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dc_rights_str_mv Stellenbosch University
description Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:47:03.084Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
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spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136288 A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging Lee, Jin Ree Engelbrecht, Andries Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Computer Science. Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Lee, J. R. 2026. A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/f26adbe8-8ac5-4400-9440-5748ebe5421a Prioritized foraging in swarm intelligence refers to the ability of a swarm to collect items while accounting for differences in their importance. Prioritized foraging is examined in settings which contain multiple item types, where each item type is associated with a distinct priority level. The objective is to study and adapt nature-inspired foraging models to efficiently solve these multi-item-type foraging problems, addressing the challenge of collecting resources that are not equally important and should be selected according to their assigned priorities. The nature-inspired models explored include a swarm-based baseline model, a desert ant model, and a honey bee model. These models are evaluated with respect to the foraging ability, gain, energy consumption, and collisions between agents. A variety of environment scenarios is generated, varying in both the number of item types and the spatial distribution of items. Sensitivity analysis is used to quantify how key parameters influence performance, and optimal parameter configurations are identified for each model across the different item-type scenarios. The results show that each model brings distinct strengths and trade-offs to multi-item-type prioritized foraging. The baseline model is simple and reliably consistent, the desert ant model offers a balance between efficiency and limited communication, and the honey bee model performs well in complex environments with many item types. Across all models, the adaptive prioritization strategy improves performance by directing agents toward high-priority items while preserving overall foraging efficiency. This work extends current knowledge of prioritized foraging to richer environments involving multiple item types and priority levels. It further demonstrates how nature-inspired models can be adapted and improved for complex resource-collection tasks. The findings are relevant to real-world applications where efficient prioritization is essential, including logistics, environmental monitoring, and disaster response. Masters 2026-04-30T17:38:01Z 2026-04-30T17:38:01Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136288 en Stellenbosch University 175 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
spellingShingle Lee, Jin Ree
A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title_full A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title_fullStr A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title_full_unstemmed A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title_short A Comparative Study of Nature Inspired Algorithms for Prioritized Foraging
title_sort comparative study of nature inspired algorithms for prioritized foraging
url https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136288
work_keys_str_mv AT leejinree acomparativestudyofnatureinspiredalgorithmsforprioritizedforaging
AT leejinree comparativestudyofnatureinspiredalgorithmsforprioritizedforaging