scholarly journals Improved NSGA-III using transfer learning and centroid distance for dynamic multi-objective optimization

Author(s):  
Haijuan Zhang ◽  
Gai-Ge Wang

AbstractMulti-objective problems in real world are often contradictory and even change over time. As we know, how to find the changing Pareto front quickly and accurately is challenging during the process of solving dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs). In addition, most solutions obey different distributions in decision space and the performance of NSGA-III when dealing with DMOPs should be further improved. In this paper, centroid distance is proposed and combined into NSGA-III with transfer learning together for DMOPs, called TC_NSGAIII. Centroid distance-based strategy is regarded as a prediction method to prevent some inappropriate individuals through measuring the distance of the population centroid and reference points. After the distance strategy, transfer learning is used for generating an initial population using the past experience. To verify the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm, NSGAIII, Tr_NSGAIII (NSGA-III combining with transfer learning only), Ce_NSGAIII (NSGA-III combining with centroid distance only), and TC_NSGAIII are compared. Seven state-of-the-art algorithms have been used for comparison on CEC 2015 benchmarks. Besides, transfer learning and centroid distance are regarded as a dynamic strategy, which is incorporated into three static algorithms, and the performance improvement is measured. What’s more, twelve benchmark functions from CEC 2015 and eight sets of parameters in each function are used in our experiments. The experimental results show that the performance of algorithms can be greatly improved through the proposed approach.

Author(s):  
Zhenkun Wang ◽  
Qingyan Li ◽  
Qite Yang ◽  
Hisao Ishibuchi

AbstractIt has been acknowledged that dominance-resistant solutions (DRSs) extensively exist in the feasible region of multi-objective optimization problems. Recent studies show that DRSs can cause serious performance degradation of many multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). Thereafter, various strategies (e.g., the $$\epsilon $$ ϵ -dominance and the modified objective calculation) to eliminate DRSs have been proposed. However, these strategies may in turn cause algorithm inefficiency in other aspects. We argue that these coping strategies prevent the algorithm from obtaining some boundary solutions of an extremely convex Pareto front (ECPF). That is, there is a dilemma between eliminating DRSs and preserving boundary solutions of the ECPF. To illustrate such a dilemma, we propose a new multi-objective optimization test problem with the ECPF as well as DRSs. Using this test problem, we investigate the performance of six representative MOEAs in terms of boundary solutions preservation and DRS elimination. The results reveal that it is quite challenging to distinguish between DRSs and boundary solutions of the ECPF.


Author(s):  
Weijun Wang ◽  
Stéphane Caro ◽  
Fouad Bennis ◽  
Oscar Brito Augusto

For Multi-Objective Robust Optimization Problem (MOROP), it is important to obtain design solutions that are both optimal and robust. To find these solutions, usually, the designer need to set a threshold of the variation of Performance Functions (PFs) before optimization, or add the effects of uncertainties on the original PFs to generate a new Pareto robust front. In this paper, we divide a MOROP into two Multi-Objective Optimization Problems (MOOPs). One is the original MOOP, another one is that we take the Robustness Functions (RFs), robust counterparts of the original PFs, as optimization objectives. After solving these two MOOPs separately, two sets of solutions come out, namely the Pareto Performance Solutions (PP) and the Pareto Robustness Solutions (PR). Make a further development on these two sets, we can get two types of solutions, namely the Pareto Robustness Solutions among the Pareto Performance Solutions (PR(PP)), and the Pareto Performance Solutions among the Pareto Robustness Solutions (PP(PR)). Further more, the intersection of PR(PP) and PP(PR) can represent the intersection of PR and PP well. Then the designer can choose good solutions by comparing the results of PR(PP) and PP(PR). Thanks to this method, we can find out the optimal and robust solutions without setting the threshold of the variation of PFs nor losing the initial Pareto front. Finally, an illustrative example highlights the contributions of the paper.


Author(s):  
Er-chao Li ◽  
Kang-wei Li

Aims: The main purpose of this paper is to solve the issues that the poor quality of offspring solutions generated by traditional evolutionary operators, and that the inability of the evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition to better solve the multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) with complicated Pareto fronts (PFs). Background: For some complicated multi-objective optimization problems, the effect of the multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) is poor. For specific complicated problems, there is less research on improving the algorithm's performance by setting and adjusting the direction vector in the decomposition-based evolutionary algorithm. And considering that in the existing algorithms, the optimal solutions are selected according to the selection strategy in the selection stage, without considering if it could produce the better solutions in the stage of individual generation to achieve the optimization effect faster. As a result of these, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm that is based on two reference points decomposition and historical information prediction is proposed. Objective: In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed strategy, the F-series test function with complicated PFs is used as the test function to simulate the proposed strategy. Method: Firstly, the evolutionary operator based on Historical Information Prediction (EHIP) is used to generate better offspring solutions to improve the convergence of the algorithm; secondly, the decomposition strategy based on ideal point and nadir point is used to select solutions to solve the MOPs with complicated PFs, and the decomposition method with augmentation term is used to improve the population diversity when selecting solutions according to the nadir point. Finally, the proposed algorithm is compared to several popular algorithms by the F-series test function, and the comparison is made according to the corresponding performance metrics. Result: The performance of the algorithm is improved obviously compared with the popular algorithms after using the EHIP. When the decomposition method with augmentation term is added, the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than the algorithm with only the EHIP on the whole. However, the overall performance is better than the popular algorithms. Conclusion and Prospect: The experimental results show that the overall performance of the proposed algorithm is superior to the popular algorithms. The EHIP can produce better quality offspring solutions, and the decomposition strategy based on two reference points can well solve the MOPs with complicated PFs. This paper mainly demonstrates the theory without testing the practical problems. The following research mainly focuses on the application of the proposed algorithm to the practical problems such as robot path planning.


2014 ◽  
Vol 945-949 ◽  
pp. 2241-2247
Author(s):  
De Gao Zhao ◽  
Qiang Li

This paper deals with application of Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm with elitism (NSGA-II) to solve multi-objective optimization problems of designing a vehicle-borne radar antenna pedestal. Five technical improvements are proposed due to the disadvantages of NSGA-II. They are as follow: (1) presenting a new method to calculate the fitness of individuals in population; (2) renewing the definition of crowding distance; (3) introducing a threshold for choosing elitist; (4) reducing some redundant sorting process; (5) developing a self-adaptive arithmetic cross and mutation probability. The modified algorithm can lead to better population diversity than the original NSGA-II. Simulation results prove rationality and validity of the modified NSGA-II. A uniformly distributed Pareto front can be obtained by using the modified NSGA-II. Finally, a multi-objective problem of designing a vehicle-borne radar antenna pedestal is settled with the modified algorithm.


Author(s):  
Jesper Kristensen ◽  
You Ling ◽  
Isaac Asher ◽  
Liping Wang

Adaptive sampling methods have been used to build accurate meta-models across large design spaces from which engineers can explore data trends, investigate optimal designs, study the sensitivity of objectives on the modeling design features, etc. For global design optimization applications, adaptive sampling methods need to be extended to sample more efficiently near the optimal domains of the design space (i.e., the Pareto front/frontier in multi-objective optimization). Expected Improvement (EI) methods have been shown to be efficient to solve design optimization problems using meta-models by incorporating prediction uncertainty. In this paper, a set of state-of-the-art methods (hypervolume EI method and centroid EI method) are presented and implemented for selecting sampling points for multi-objective optimizations. The classical hypervolume EI method uses hyperrectangles to represent the Pareto front, which shows undesirable behavior at the tails of the Pareto front. This issue is addressed utilizing the concepts from physical programming to shape the Pareto front. The modified hypervolume EI method can be extended to increase local Pareto front accuracy in any area identified by an engineer, and this method can be applied to Pareto frontiers of any shape. A novel hypervolume EI method is also developed that does not rely on the assumption of hyperrectangles, but instead assumes the Pareto frontier can be represented by a convex hull. The method exploits fast methods for convex hull construction and numerical integration, and results in a Pareto front shape that is desired in many practical applications. Various performance metrics are defined in order to quantitatively compare and discuss all methods applied to a particular 2D optimization problem from the literature. The modified hypervolume EI methods lead to dramatic resource savings while improving the predictive capabilities near the optimal objective values.


2018 ◽  
Vol 232 ◽  
pp. 03039
Author(s):  
Taowei Chen ◽  
Yiming Yu ◽  
Kun Zhao

Particle swarm optimization(PSO) algorithm has been widely applied in solving multi-objective optimization problems(MOPs) since it was proposed. However, PSO algorithms updated the velocity of each particle using a single search strategy, which may be difficult to obtain approximate Pareto front for complex MOPs. In this paper, inspired by the theory of P system, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm based on the framework of membrane system(PMOPSO) is proposed to solve MOPs. According to the hierarchical structure, objects and rules of P system, the PSO approach is used in elementary membranes to execute multiple search strategy. And non-dominated sorting and crowding distance is used in skin membrane for improving speed of convergence and maintaining population diversity by evolutionary rules. Compared with other multi-objective optimization algorithm including MOPSO, dMOPSO, SMPSO, MMOPSO, MOEA/D, SPEA2, PESA2, NSGAII on a benchmark series function, the experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is not only feasible and effective but also have a better convergence to true Pareto front.


Author(s):  
Jiawei Yuan ◽  
Hai-Lin Liu ◽  
Chaoda Peng

Despite the effectiveness of the decomposition-based multi-objective evolutional algorithm (MOEA/D-M2M) in solving continuous multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs), its performance in addressing 0/1 multi-objective knapsack problems (MOKPs) has not been fully explored. In this paper, we use MOEA/D-M2M with an improved greedy repair strategy to solve MOKPs. It first decomposes an MOKP into a number of simple optimization subproblems and solves them in a collaborative way. Each subproblem has its own subpopulation, and then an improved greedy strategy is introduced to improve the performance of the proposed algorithm on MOKPs. Therein, a weight vector chosen randomly from a corresponding subpopulation is utilized to repair infeasible individuals or improve feasible individuals to have a better fitness, which improves the convergence of the population. Experimental studies on a set of test instances indicate that the MOEA/D-M2M with the improved greedy strategy is superior to MOGLS and MOEA/D in terms of finding better approximations to the Pareto front.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (01) ◽  
pp. 1650006
Author(s):  
Aristotelis E. Thanos ◽  
Nurcin Celik ◽  
Juan P. Sáenz

In this paper, we present a novel sequential sampling methodology for solving multi-objective optimization problems. Random sequential sampling is performed using the information from within the non-dominated solution set generated by the algorithm, while resampling is performed using the extreme points of the non-dominated solution set. The proposed approach has been benchmarked against well-known multi-objective optimization algorithms that exist in the literature through a series of problem instances. The proposed algorithm has been demonstrated to perform at least as good as the alternatives found in the literature in problems where the Pareto front presents convexity, nonconvexity, or discontinuity; while producing very promising results in problem instances where there is multi-modality or nonuniform distribution of the solutions along the Pareto front.


Author(s):  
Shaymah Akram Yasear ◽  
Ku Ruhana Ku-Mahamud

A non-dominated sorting Harris’s hawk multi-objective optimizer (NDSHHMO) algorithm is presented in this paper. The algorithm is able to improve the population diversity, convergence of non-dominated solutions toward the Pareto front, and prevent the population from trapping into local optimal. This was achieved by integrating fast non-dominated sorting with the original Harris’s hawk multi-objective optimizer (HHMO).  Non-dominated sorting divides the objective space into levels based on fitness values and then selects non-dominated solutions to produce the next generation of hawks. A set of well-known multi-objective optimization problems has been used to evaluate the performance of the proposed NDSHHMO algorithm. The results of the NDSHHMO algorithm were verified against the results of an HHMO algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed NDSHHMO algorithm in terms of enhancing the ability of convergence toward the Pareto front and significantly improve the search ability of the HHMO.


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