A rigorous evaluation of crossover and mutation in genetic programming

The role of crossover and mutation in Genetic Programming (GP) has been the subject of much debate since the emergence of the field. In this paper, we contribute new empirical evidence to this argument using a rigorous and principled experimental method applied to six problems common in the GP literature. The approach tunes the algorithm parameters to enable a fair and objective comparison of two different GP algorithms, the first using a combination of crossover and reproduction, and secondly using a combination of mutation and reproduction. We find that crossover does not significantly outperform mutation on most of the problems examined. In addition, we demonstrate that the use of a straightforward Design of Experiments methodology is effective at tuning GP algorithm parameters

Using intelligent optimization methods to improve the group method of data handling in time series prediction

In this paper we show how the performance of the basic algorithm of the Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) can be improved using Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The new improved GMDH is then used to predict currency exchange rates: the US Dollar to the Euros. The performance of the hybrid GMDHs are compared with that of the conventional GMDH. Two performance measures, the root mean squared error and the mean absolute percentage errors show that the hybrid GMDH algorithm gives more accurate predictions than the conventional GMDH algorithm

Generating Interpretable Fuzzy Controllers using Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Programming

Autonomously training interpretable control strategies, called policies, using pre-existing plant trajectory data is of great interest in industrial applications. Fuzzy controllers have been used in industry for decades as interpretable and efficient system controllers. In this study, we introduce a fuzzy genetic programming (GP) approach called fuzzy GP reinforcement learning (FGPRL) that can select the relevant state features, determine the size of the required fuzzy rule set, and automatically adjust all the controller parameters simultaneously. Each GP individual's fitness is computed using model-based batch reinforcement learning (RL), which first trains a model using available system samples and subsequently performs Monte Carlo rollouts to predict each policy candidate's performance. We compare FGPRL to an extended version of a related method called fuzzy particle swarm reinforcement learning (FPSRL), which uses swarm intelligence to tune the fuzzy policy parameters. Experiments using an industrial benchmark show that FGPRL is able to autonomously learn interpretable fuzzy policies with high control performance.Comment: Accepted at Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2018 (GECCO '18

Implementation of Discrete Capability into the enhanced Multipoint Approximation Method for solving mixed integer-continuous optimization problems

Multipoint approximation method (MAM) focuses on the development of metamodels for the objective and constraint functions in solving a mid-range optimization problem within a trust region. To develop an optimization technique applicable to mixed integer-continuous design optimization problems in which the objective and constraint functions are computationally expensive and could be impossible to evaluate at some combinations of design variables, a simple and efficient algorithm, coordinate search, is implemented in the MAM. This discrete optimization capability is examined by the well established benchmark problem and its effectiveness is also evaluated as the discreteness interval for discrete design variables is increased from 0.2 to 1. Furthermore, an application to the optimization of a lattice composite fuselage structure where one of design variables (number of helical ribs) is integer is also presented to demonstrate the efficiency of this capability

Evolving high-speed, easy-to-understand network intrusion detection rules with genetic programming

Proceeding of: EvoWorkshops 2009: EvoCOMNET, EvoENVIRONMENT, EvoFIN, EvoGAMES, EvoHOT, EvoIASP, EvoINTERACTION, EvoMUSART, EvoNUM, EvoSTOC, EvoTRANSLOG, Tübingen, Germany, April 15-17, 2009An ever-present problem in intrusion detection technology is how to construct the patterns of (good, bad or anomalous) behaviour upon which an engine have to make decisions regarding the nature of the activity observed in a system. This has traditionally been one of the central areas of research in the field, and most of the solutions proposed so far have relied in one way or another upon some form of data mining–with the exception, of course, of human-constructed patterns. In this paper, we explore the use of Genetic Programming (GP) for such a purpose. Our approach is not new in some aspects, as GP has already been partially explored in the past. Here we show that GP can offer at least two advantages over other classical mechanisms: it can produce very lightweight detection rules (something of extreme importance for high-speed networks or resource-constrained applications) and the simplicity of the patterns generated allows to easily understand the semantics of the underlying attack.Publicad

Evolving rules for document classification

We describe a novel method for using Genetic Programming to create compact classification rules based on combinations of N-Grams (character strings). Genetic programs acquire fitness by producing rules that are effective classifiers in terms of precision and recall when evaluated against a set of training documents. We describe a set of functions and terminals and provide results from a classification task using the Reuters 21578 dataset. We also suggest that because the induced rules are meaningful to a human analyst they may have a number of other uses beyond classification and provide a basis for text mining applications