A dynamic multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decision variable classification

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.In recent years, dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs) have drawn increasing interest. Many dynamic multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (DMOEAs) have been put forward to solve DMOPs mainly by incorporating diversity introduction or prediction approaches with conventional multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. Maintaining good balance of population diversity and convergence is critical to the performance of DMOEAs. To address the above issue, a dynamic multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decision variable classification (DMOEA-DVC) is proposed in this study. DMOEA-DVC divides the decision variables into two and three different groups in static optimization and change response stages, respectively. In static optimization, two different crossover operators are used for the two decision variable groups to accelerate the convergence while maintaining good diversity. In change response, DMOEA-DVC reinitializes the three decision variable groups by maintenance, prediction, and diversity introduction strategies, respectively. DMOEA-DVC is compared with the other six state-of-the-art DMOEAs on 33 benchmark DMOPs. Experimental results demonstrate that the overall performance of the DMOEA-DVC is superior or comparable to that of the compared algorithms

A dynamic multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on a dynamic evolutionary environment model

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Traditional dynamic multiobjective evolutionary algorithms usually imitate the evolution of nature, maintaining diversity of population through different strategies and making the population track the Pareto optimal solution set efficiently after the environmental change. However, these algorithms neglect the role of the dynamic environment in evolution, leading to the lacking of active guieded search. In this paper, a dynamic multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on a dynamic evolutionary environment model is proposed (DEE-DMOEA). When the environment has not changed, this algorithm makes use of the evolutionary environment to record the knowledge and information generated in evolution, and in turn, the knowledge and information guide the search. When a change is detected, the algorithm helps the population adapt to the new environment through building a dynamic evolutionary environment model, which enhances the diversity of the population by the guided method, and makes the environment and population evolve simultaneously. In addition, an implementation of the algorithm about the dynamic evolutionary environment model is introduced in this paper. The environment area and the unit area are employed to express the evolutionary environment. Furthermore, the strategies of constraint, facilitation and guidance for the evolution are proposed. Compared with three other state-of-the-art strategies on a series of test problems with linear or nonlinear correlation between design variables, the algorithm has shown its effectiveness for dealing with the dynamic multiobjective problems

Filterscape: energy recycling in a creative ecosystem

This paper extends previous work in evolutionary ecosystemic approaches to generative art. Filterscape, adopts the implicit fitness specification that is fundamental to this approach and explores the use of resource recycling as a means of generating coherent sonic diversity in a generative sound work. Filterscape agents consume and deposit energy that is manifest in the simulation as sound. Resource recycling is shown to support cooperative as well as competitive survival strategies. In the context of our simulation, these strategies are recognised by their characteristic audible signatures. The model provides a novel means to generate sonic diversity through de-centralised agent interactions

Particle swarm optimization with composite particles in dynamic environments

This article is placed here with the permission of IEEE - Copyright @ 2010 IEEEIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in the study of particle swarm optimization (PSO) in dynamic environments. This paper presents a new PSO model, called PSO with composite particles (PSO-CP), to address dynamic optimization problems. PSO-CP partitions the swarm into a set of composite particles based on their similarity using a "worst first" principle. Inspired by the composite particle phenomenon in physics, the elementary members in each composite particle interact via a velocity-anisotropic reflection scheme to integrate valuable information for effectively and rapidly finding the promising optima in the search space. Each composite particle maintains the diversity by a scattering operator. In addition, an integral movement strategy is introduced to promote the swarm diversity. Experiments on a typical dynamic test benchmark problem provide a guideline for setting the involved parameters and show that PSO-CP is efficient in comparison with several state-of-the-art PSO algorithms for dynamic optimization problems.This work was supported in part by the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) of China under Grant 70931001 and 70771021, the Science Fund for Creative Research Group of the NNSF of China under Grant 60821063 and 70721001, the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of the Ministry of education of China under Grant 200801450008, and by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of U.K. under Grant EP/E060722/1

Multimodal estimation of distribution algorithms

Taking the advantage of estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) in preserving high diversity, this paper proposes a multimodal EDA. Integrated with clustering strategies for crowding and speciation, two versions of this algorithm are developed, which operate at the niche level. Then these two algorithms are equipped with three distinctive techniques: 1) a dynamic cluster sizing strategy; 2) an alternative utilization of Gaussian and Cauchy distributions to generate offspring; and 3) an adaptive local search. The dynamic cluster sizing affords a potential balance between exploration and exploitation and reduces the sensitivity to the cluster size in the niching methods. Taking advantages of Gaussian and Cauchy distributions, we generate the offspring at the niche level through alternatively using these two distributions. Such utilization can also potentially offer a balance between exploration and exploitation. Further, solution accuracy is enhanced through a new local search scheme probabilistically conducted around seeds of niches with probabilities determined self-adaptively according to fitness values of these seeds. Extensive experiments conducted on 20 benchmark multimodal problems confirm that both algorithms can achieve competitive performance compared with several state-of-the-art multimodal algorithms, which is supported by nonparametric tests. Especially, the proposed algorithms are very promising for complex problems with many local optima

An adaptation reference-point-based multiobjective evolutionary algorithm

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.It is well known that maintaining a good balance between convergence and diversity is crucial to the performance of multiobjective optimization algorithms (MOEAs). However, the Pareto front (PF) of multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs) affects the performance of MOEAs, especially reference point-based ones. This paper proposes a reference-point-based adaptive method to study the PF of MOPs according to the candidate solutions of the population. In addition, the proportion and angle function presented selects elites during environmental selection. Compared with five state-of-the-art MOEAs, the proposed algorithm shows highly competitive effectiveness on MOPs with six complex characteristics

Digital Ecosystems: Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures

We view Digital Ecosystems to be the digital counterparts of biological ecosystems. Here, we are concerned with the creation of these Digital Ecosystems, exploiting the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems to evolve high-level software applications. Therefore, we created the Digital Ecosystem, a novel optimisation technique inspired by biological ecosystems, where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of agents which are distributed in a decentralised peer-to-peer network, operating continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. The Digital Ecosystem was then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures originating from theoretical ecology, evaluating its likeness to biological ecosystems. This included its responsiveness to requests for applications from the user base, as a measure of the ecological succession (ecosystem maturity). Overall, we have advanced the understanding of Digital Ecosystems, creating Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures where the word ecosystem is more than just a metaphor.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures, journa