12,097 research outputs found
COCO: Performance Assessment
We present an any-time performance assessment for benchmarking numerical
optimization algorithms in a black-box scenario, applied within the COCO
benchmarking platform. The performance assessment is based on runtimes measured
in number of objective function evaluations to reach one or several quality
indicator target values. We argue that runtime is the only available measure
with a generic, meaningful, and quantitative interpretation. We discuss the
choice of the target values, runlength-based targets, and the aggregation of
results by using simulated restarts, averages, and empirical distribution
functions
COCO: A Platform for Comparing Continuous Optimizers in a Black-Box Setting
We introduce COCO, an open source platform for Comparing Continuous
Optimizers in a black-box setting. COCO aims at automatizing the tedious and
repetitive task of benchmarking numerical optimization algorithms to the
greatest possible extent. The platform and the underlying methodology allow to
benchmark in the same framework deterministic and stochastic solvers for both
single and multiobjective optimization. We present the rationales behind the
(decade-long) development of the platform as a general proposition for
guidelines towards better benchmarking. We detail underlying fundamental
concepts of COCO such as the definition of a problem as a function instance,
the underlying idea of instances, the use of target values, and runtime defined
by the number of function calls as the central performance measure. Finally, we
give a quick overview of the basic code structure and the currently available
test suites.Comment: Optimization Methods and Software, Taylor & Francis, In press,
pp.1-3
Analysis of Different Types of Regret in Continuous Noisy Optimization
The performance measure of an algorithm is a crucial part of its analysis.
The performance can be determined by the study on the convergence rate of the
algorithm in question. It is necessary to study some (hopefully convergent)
sequence that will measure how "good" is the approximated optimum compared to
the real optimum. The concept of Regret is widely used in the bandit literature
for assessing the performance of an algorithm. The same concept is also used in
the framework of optimization algorithms, sometimes under other names or
without a specific name. And the numerical evaluation of convergence rate of
noisy algorithms often involves approximations of regrets. We discuss here two
types of approximations of Simple Regret used in practice for the evaluation of
algorithms for noisy optimization. We use specific algorithms of different
nature and the noisy sphere function to show the following results. The
approximation of Simple Regret, termed here Approximate Simple Regret, used in
some optimization testbeds, fails to estimate the Simple Regret convergence
rate. We also discuss a recent new approximation of Simple Regret, that we term
Robust Simple Regret, and show its advantages and disadvantages.Comment: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2016, Jul 2016,
Denver, United States. 201
A hybrid swarm-based algorithm for single-objective optimization problems involving high-cost analyses
In many technical fields, single-objective optimization procedures in
continuous domains involve expensive numerical simulations. In this context, an
improvement of the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm, called the Artificial
super-Bee enhanced Colony (AsBeC), is presented. AsBeC is designed to provide
fast convergence speed, high solution accuracy and robust performance over a
wide range of problems. It implements enhancements of the ABC structure and
hybridizations with interpolation strategies. The latter are inspired by the
quadratic trust region approach for local investigation and by an efficient
global optimizer for separable problems. Each modification and their combined
effects are studied with appropriate metrics on a numerical benchmark, which is
also used for comparing AsBeC with some effective ABC variants and other
derivative-free algorithms. In addition, the presented algorithm is validated
on two recent benchmarks adopted for competitions in international conferences.
Results show remarkable competitiveness and robustness for AsBeC.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, Springer Swarm Intelligenc
Sparse Automatic Differentiation for Large-Scale Computations Using Abstract Elementary Algebra
Most numerical solvers and libraries nowadays are implemented to use
mathematical models created with language-specific built-in data types (e.g.
real in Fortran or double in C) and their respective elementary algebra
implementations. However, built-in elementary algebra typically has limited
functionality and often restricts flexibility of mathematical models and
analysis types that can be applied to those models. To overcome this
limitation, a number of domain-specific languages with more feature-rich
built-in data types have been proposed. In this paper, we argue that if
numerical libraries and solvers are designed to use abstract elementary algebra
rather than language-specific built-in algebra, modern mainstream languages can
be as effective as any domain-specific language. We illustrate our ideas using
the example of sparse Jacobian matrix computation. We implement an automatic
differentiation method that takes advantage of sparse system structures and is
straightforward to parallelize in MPI setting. Furthermore, we show that the
computational cost scales linearly with the size of the system.Comment: Submitted to ACM Transactions on Mathematical Softwar
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