Self-adaptation of mutation distribution in evolutionary algorithms

This paper is posted here with permission from IEEE - Copyright @ 2007 IEEEThis paper proposes a self-adaptation method to control not only the mutation strength parameter, but also the mutation distribution for evolutionary algorithms. For this purpose, the isotropic g-Gaussian distribution is employed in the mutation operator. The g-Gaussian distribution allows to control the shape of the distribution by setting a real parameter g and can reproduce either finite second moment distributions or infinite second moment distributions. In the proposed method, the real parameter q of the g-Gaussian distribution is encoded in the chromosome of an individual and is allowed to evolve. An evolutionary programming algorithm with the proposed idea is presented. Experiments were carried out to study the performance of the proposed algorithm

Parameter Setting with Dynamic Island Models

In this paper we proposed the use of a dynamic island model which aim at adapting parameter settings dynamically. Since each island corresponds to a specific parameter setting, measuring the evolution of islands populations sheds light on the optimal parameter settings efficiency throughout the search. This model can be viewed as an alternative adaptive operator selection technique for classic steady state genetic algorithms. Empirical studies provide competitive results with respect to other methods like automatic tuning tools. Moreover, this model could ease the parallelization of evolutionary algorithms and can be used in a synchronous or asynchronous way

Leveraging Benchmarking Data for Informed One-Shot Dynamic Algorithm Selection

A key challenge in the application of evolutionary algorithms in practice is the selection of an algorithm instance that best suits the problem at hand. What complicates this decision further is that different algorithms may be best suited for different stages of the optimization process. Dynamic algorithm selection and configuration are therefore well-researched topics in evolutionary computation. However, while hyper-heuristics and parameter control studies typically assume a setting in which the algorithm needs to be chosen while running the algorithms, without prior information, AutoML approaches such as hyper-parameter tuning and automated algorithm configuration assume the possibility of evaluating different configurations before making a final recommendation. In practice, however, we are often in a middle-ground between these two settings, where we need to decide on the algorithm instance before the run ("oneshot" setting), but where we have (possibly lots of) data available on which we can base an informed decision. We analyze in this work how such prior performance data can be used to infer informed dynamic algorithm selection schemes for the solution of pseudo-Boolean optimization problems. Our specific use-case considers a family of genetic algorithms.Comment: Submitted for review to GECCO'2

A self-adaptive multimeme memetic algorithm co-evolving utility scores to control genetic operators and their parameter settings

Memetic algorithms are a class of well-studied metaheuristics which combine evolutionary algorithms and local search techniques. A meme represents contagious piece of information in an adaptive information sharing system. The canonical memetic algorithm uses a fixed meme, denoting a hill climbing operator, to improve each solution in a population during the evolutionary search process. Given global parameters and multiple parametrised operators, adaptation often becomes a crucial constituent in the design of MAs. In this study, a self-adaptive self-configuring steady-state multimeme memetic algorithm (SSMMA) variant is proposed. Along with the individuals (solutions), SSMMA co-evolves memes, encoding the utility score for each algorithmic component choice and relevant parameter setting option. An individual uses tournament selection to decide which operator and parameter setting to employ at a given step. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on six combinatorial optimisation problems from a cross-domain heuristic search benchmark. The results indicate the success of SSMMA when compared to the static Mas as well as widely used self-adaptive Multimeme Memetic Algorithm from the scientific literature

A Novel Self-Adaptive Harmony Search Algorithm

The harmony search algorithm is a music-inspired optimization technology and has been successfully applied to diverse scientific and engineering problems. However, like other metaheuristic algorithms, it still faces two difficulties: parameter setting and finding the optimal balance between diversity and intensity in searching. This paper proposes a novel, self-adaptive search mechanism for optimization problems with continuous variables. This new variant can automatically configure the evolutionary parameters in accordance with problem characteristics, such as the scale and the boundaries, and dynamically select evolutionary strategies in accordance with its search performance. The new variant simplifies the parameter setting and efficiently solves all types of optimization problems with continuous variables. Statistical test results show that this variant is considerably robust and outperforms the original harmony search (HS), improved harmony search (IHS), and other self-adaptive variants for large-scale optimization problems and constrained problems

Hybridization of Evolutionary Algorithms

Evolutionary algorithms are good general problem solver but suffer from a lack of domain specific knowledge. However, the problem specific knowledge can be added to evolutionary algorithms by hybridizing. Interestingly, all the elements of the evolutionary algorithms can be hybridized. In this chapter, the hybridization of the three elements of the evolutionary algorithms is discussed: the objective function, the survivor selection operator and the parameter settings. As an objective function, the existing heuristic function that construct the solution of the problem in traditional way is used. However, this function is embedded into the evolutionary algorithm that serves as a generator of new solutions. In addition, the objective function is improved by local search heuristics. The new neutral selection operator has been developed that is capable to deal with neutral solutions, i.e. solutions that have the different representation but expose the equal values of objective function. The aim of this operator is to directs the evolutionary search into a new undiscovered regions of the search space. To avoid of wrong setting of parameters that control the behavior of the evolutionary algorithm, the self-adaptation is used. Finally, such hybrid self-adaptive evolutionary algorithm is applied to the two real-world NP-hard problems: the graph 3-coloring and the optimization of markers in the clothing industry. Extensive experiments shown that these hybridization improves the results of the evolutionary algorithms a lot. Furthermore, the impact of the particular hybridizations is analyzed in details as well

Self-adaptation in non-elitist evolutionary algorithms on discrete problems with unknown structure

A key challenge to make effective use of evolutionary algorithms is to choose appropriate settings for their parameters. However, the appropriate parameter setting generally depends on the structure of the optimisation problem, which is often unknown to the user. Non-deterministic parameter control mechanisms adjust parameters using information obtained from the evolutionary process. Self-adaptation -- where parameter settings are encoded in the chromosomes of individuals and evolve through mutation and crossover -- is a popular parameter control mechanism in evolutionary strategies. However, there is little theoretical evidence that self-adaptation is effective, and self-adaptation has largely been ignored by the discrete evolutionary computation community. Here we show through a theoretical runtime analysis that a non-elitist, discrete evolutionary algorithm which self-adapts its mutation rate not only outperforms EAs which use static mutation rates on \leadingones, but also improves asymptotically on an EA using a state-of-the-art control mechanism. The structure of this problem depends on a parameter $k$, which is \emph{a priori} unknown to the algorithm, and which is needed to appropriately set a fixed mutation rate. The self-adaptive EA achieves the same asymptotic runtime as if this parameter was known to the algorithm beforehand, which is an asymptotic speedup for this problem compared to all other EAs previously studied. An experimental study of how the mutation-rates evolve show that they respond adequately to a diverse range of problem structures. These results suggest that self-adaptation should be adopted more broadly as a parameter control mechanism in discrete, non-elitist evolutionary algorithms.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions of Evolutionary Computatio