Feature selection in high‐dimensional microarray cancer datasets using an improved equilibrium optimization approach

Summary Optimal feature selection of a high‐dimensional micro‐array datasets has gained a significant importance in medical applications for early detection and prevention of disease. Traditional Optimal feature selection percolates through a population‐based meta‐heuristic optimization technique, a Machine Learning classifier and traditional wrapper method for transforming the original feature set into a better feature set. These techniques require a number of iterations for the convergence of random solutions to the global optimum with high‐dimensionality issues such as over‐fitting, memory constraints, computational costs, and low accuracy. In this article, an efficient equilibrium optimization technique is proposed for an optimized feature selection that increases the diversity of the population in the search space through Random Opposition based learning and classify the best features using a 10‐fold cross‐validation‐based wrapper method. The proposed method is tested with six standard micro‐array datasets and compared with the conventional algorithms such as Marine Predators Algorithm, Harris Hawks Optimization, Whale Optimization Algorithm, and conventional Equilibrium Optimization. From the statistical results using the standard metrics, it is interpreted that the proposed method converges to the global minimum in a few iterations through optimized feature selection, fitness value and higher classification accuracy. This proves its efficacy in exploring and finding a better solution as compared to the counterpart algorithms. In addition to complexity analysis, these results indicate a global optimum solution, an effective representation of least amount of data‐high dimensionality reduction and an avoidance of over‐fitting problems. The source code is available at https://github.com/balasv/ROBL‐EOA/blob/main/ROBL_EOA.ipynb