263 research outputs found
Preliminary Investigation of the `Learnable Evolution Model' for Faster/Better Multiobjective Water Systems Design
The design of large scale water distribution systems is a very difficult optimisation problem which invariably requires the use of time-expensive simulations within the fitness function. The need to accelerate optimisation for such problems has not so far been seriously tackled. However, this is a very important issue, since as MOEAs become more and more recognised as the lsquoindustry standardrsquo technique for water system design, the demands placed on such systems (larger and larger water networks) will quickly meet with problems of scaleup. Meanwhile, LEM (Learnable Evolution Modelrsquo) has appeared in the Machine Learning literature, and provides a general approach to integrating machine learning into evolutionary search. Published results using LEM show very great promise in terms of finding near-optimal solutions with significantly reduced numbers of evaluations. Here we introduce LEMMO (Learnable Evolution Model for Multi-Objective optimization), which is a multi-objective adaptation of LEM, and we apply it to certain problems commonly used as benchmarks in the water systems community. Compared with NSGA-II, we find that LEMMO both significantly improves performance, and significantly reduces the number of evaluations needed to reach a given target. We conclude that the general approach used in LEMMO is a promising direction for meeting the scale-up challenges in multiobjective water system design
Hybridizing Non-dominated Sorting Algorithms: Divide-and-Conquer Meets Best Order Sort
Many production-grade algorithms benefit from combining an asymptotically
efficient algorithm for solving big problem instances, by splitting them into
smaller ones, and an asymptotically inefficient algorithm with a very small
implementation constant for solving small subproblems. A well-known example is
stable sorting, where mergesort is often combined with insertion sort to
achieve a constant but noticeable speed-up.
We apply this idea to non-dominated sorting. Namely, we combine the
divide-and-conquer algorithm, which has the currently best known asymptotic
runtime of , with the Best Order Sort algorithm, which
has the runtime of but demonstrates the best practical performance
out of quadratic algorithms.
Empirical evaluation shows that the hybrid's running time is typically not
worse than of both original algorithms, while for large numbers of points it
outperforms them by at least 20%. For smaller numbers of objectives, the
speedup can be as large as four times.Comment: A two-page abstract of this paper will appear in the proceedings
companion of the 2017 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO
2017
Introducing Complexity Curtailing Techniques for the Tour Construction Heuristics for the Travelling Salesperson Problem
In this paper, complexity curtailing techniques are introduced to create faster version of insertion heuristics, that is, cheapest insertion heuristic (CIH) and largest insertion heuristic (LIH), effectively reducing their complexities from O(n3) to O(n2) with no significant effect on quality of solution. This paper also examines relatively not very known heuristic concept of max difference and shows that it can be culminated into a full-fledged max difference insertion heuristic (MDIH) by defining its missing steps. Further to this the paper extends the complexity curtailing techniques to MDIH to create its faster version. The resultant heuristic, that is, fast max difference insertion heuristic (FMDIH), outperforms the “farthest insertion” heuristic (FIH) across a wide spectrum of popular datasets with statistical significance, even though both the heuristics have the same worst case complexity of O(n2). It should be noted that FIH is considered best among lowest order complexity heuristics. The complexity curtailing techniques presented here open up the new area of research for their possible extension to other heuristics
Towards Sustainable Collaborative Logistics Using Specialist Planning Algorithms and a Gain-Sharing Business Model:A UK Case Study
This paper introduces the FreightShare Lab Platform (FSLP) and its embedded business model, aiming to facilitate and encourage horizontal collaboration in freight logistics. The idea of the FSLP is to create collaborating clusters of freight operators, and corresponding collaborative operational plans, via specialised decision support algorithms and multi-fleet optimisation. Further, a gain-sharing business model embedded within the FSLP algorithms ensures that participants, mainly logistics service providers and freight operators, can retain their own profit margins and fairly share the efficiency gains from collaboration. A case study is presented, centred on a large UK freight operator, to evaluate the key FSLP algorithms in a realistic context. The results evidence the potential for significant financial and environmental benefits for industry and society
Evolutionary Algorithms
Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are population-based metaheuristics, originally
inspired by aspects of natural evolution. Modern varieties incorporate a broad
mixture of search mechanisms, and tend to blend inspiration from nature with
pragmatic engineering concerns; however, all EAs essentially operate by
maintaining a population of potential solutions and in some way artificially
'evolving' that population over time. Particularly well-known categories of EAs
include genetic algorithms (GAs), Genetic Programming (GP), and Evolution
Strategies (ES). EAs have proven very successful in practical applications,
particularly those requiring solutions to combinatorial problems. EAs are
highly flexible and can be configured to address any optimization task, without
the requirements for reformulation and/or simplification that would be needed
for other techniques. However, this flexibility goes hand in hand with a cost:
the tailoring of an EA's configuration and parameters, so as to provide robust
performance for a given class of tasks, is often a complex and time-consuming
process. This tailoring process is one of the many ongoing research areas
associated with EAs.Comment: To appear in R. Marti, P. Pardalos, and M. Resende, eds., Handbook of
Heuristics, Springe
- …