A comparative study of adaptive mutation operators for metaheuristics

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a class of stochastic optimization methods inspired by the principles of natural evolution. Adaptation of strategy parameters and genetic operators has become an important and promising research area in GAs. Many researchers are applying adaptive techniques to guide the search of GAs toward optimum solutions. Mutation is a key component of GAs. It is a variation operator to create diversity for GAs. This paper investigates several adaptive mutation operators, including population level adaptive mutation operators and gene level adaptive mutation operators, for GAs and compares their performance based on a set of uni-modal and multi-modal benchmark problems. The experimental results show that the gene level adaptive mutation operators are usually more efficient than the population level adaptive mutation operators for GAs

An adaptive mutation operator for particle swarm optimization

Copyright @ 2008 MICParticle swarm optimization (PSO) is an effcient tool for optimization and search problems. However, it is easy to betrapped into local optima due to its in-formation sharing mechanism. Many research works have shown that mutation operators can help PSO prevent prema- ture convergence. In this paper, several mutation operators that are based on the global best particle are investigated and compared for PSO. An adaptive mutation operator is designed. Experimental results show that these mutation operators can greatly enhance the performance of PSO. The adaptive mutation operator shows great advantages over non-adaptive mutation operators on a set of benchmark test problems.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/1

A Study of the Combination of Variation Operators in the NSGA-II Algorithm

Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms rely on the use of variation operators as their basic mechanism to carry out the evolutionary process. These operators are usually fixed and applied in the same way during algorithm execution, e.g., the mutation probability in genetic algorithms. This paper analyses whether a more dynamic approach combining different operators with variable application rate along the search process allows to improve the static classical behavior. This way, we explore the combined use of three different operators (simulated binary crossover, differential evolution’s operator, and polynomial mutation) in the NSGA-II algorithm. We have considered two strategies for selecting the operators: random and adaptive. The resulting variants have been tested on a set of 19 complex problems, and our results indicate that both schemes significantly improve the performance of the original NSGA-II algorithm, achieving the random and adaptive variants the best overall results in the bi- and three-objective considered problems, respectively.UNIVERSIDAD DE MÁLAGA. CAMPUS DE EXCELENCIA INTERNACIONAL ANDALUCÍA TEC

Genetic programming: the ratio of crossover to mutation as a function of time

This article studies the sub-tree operators: mutation and crossover, within the context of Genetic Programming. Two standard problems, symbolic linear regression and a non-linear tree, were presented to the algorithm at each stage. The behaviour of the operators in regard to fitness is first established, followed by an analysis of the most optimal ratio between crossover and mutation. Subsequently, three algorithms are presented as candidates to dynamically learn the most optimal level of this ratio. The results of each algorithm are then compared to each other and the traditional constant ratio

Generalized Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm Framework with a Mutation Operator Requiring no Adaptation

This paper presents a generalized hybrid evolutionary optimization structure that not only combines both nondeterministic and deterministic algorithms on their individual merits and distinct advantages, but also offers behaviors of the three originating classes of evolutionary algorithms (EAs). In addition, a robust mutation operator is developed in place of the necessity of mutation adaptation, based on the mutation properties of binary-coded individuals in a genetic algorithm. The behaviour of this mutation operator is examined in full and its performance is compared with adaptive mutations. The results show that the new mutation operator outperforms adaptive mutation operators while reducing complications of extra adaptive parameters in an EA representation

A Systematic Approach for Designing Mutation Operators for MDE languages

Testing is an essential activity in software development, used to increase confidence in the quality of software. One testing approach that is used to evaluate the quality of testing inputs for a particular program is mutation analysis. The most important step in mutation analysis is the process of defining mutation operators that mimic typical errors of the users of a language. There is a wide variety of mutation operators that have been designed for a number of languages including C, Java, and SQL. However, the design of mutation operators is rarely systematic, which may result in passing over crucial operators for specific features of languages. This paper describes a way to apply mutation analysis in the context of Model Driven Engineering (MDE). In particular, the paper proposes a systematic approach for designing mutation operators for MDE languages. The systematic approach is demonstrated for the Atlas Transformation Language (ATL) and the result is a list of mutation operators that includes previously designed ones for ATL from the literature