Biomimicry of bacterial foraging for distributed optimization and control

We explain the biology and physics underlying the chemotactic (foraging) behavior of E. coli bacteria. We explain a variety of bacterial swarming and social foraging behaviors and discuss the control system on the E. coli that dictates how foraging should proceed. Next, a computer program that emulates the distributed optimization process represented by the activity of social bacterial foraging is presented. To illustrate its operation, we apply it to a simple multiple-extremum function minimization problem and briefly discuss its relationship to some existing optimization algorithms. The article closes with a brief discussion on the potential uses of biomimicry of social foraging to develop adaptive…