scholarly journals Comparative Analysis of Selection Hyper-Heuristics for Real-World Multi-Objective Optimization Problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9153
Author(s):  
Vinicius Renan de Carvalho ◽  
Ender Özcan ◽  
Jaime Simão Sichman

As exact algorithms are unfeasible to solve real optimization problems, due to their computational complexity, meta-heuristics are usually used to solve them. However, choosing a meta-heuristic to solve a particular optimization problem is a non-trivial task, and often requires a time-consuming trial and error process. Hyper-heuristics, which are heuristics to choose heuristics, have been proposed as a means to both simplify and improve algorithm selection or configuration for optimization problems. This paper novel presents a novel cross-domain evaluation for multi-objective optimization: we investigate how four state-of-the-art online hyper-heuristics with different characteristics perform in order to find solutions for eighteen real-world multi-objective optimization problems. These hyper-heuristics were designed in previous studies and tackle the algorithm selection problem from different perspectives: Election-Based, based on Reinforcement Learning and based on a mathematical function. All studied hyper-heuristics control a set of five Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) as Low-Level (meta-)Heuristics (LLHs) while finding solutions for the optimization problem. To our knowledge, this work is the first to deal conjointly with the following issues: (i) selection of meta-heuristics instead of simple operators (ii) focus on multi-objective optimization problems, (iii) experiments on real world problems and not just function benchmarks. In our experiments, we computed, for each algorithm execution, Hypervolume and IGD+ and compared the results considering the Kruskal–Wallis statistical test. Furthermore, we ranked all the tested algorithms considering three different Friedman Rankings to summarize the cross-domain analysis. Our results showed that hyper-heuristics have a better cross-domain performance than single meta-heuristics, which makes them excellent candidates for solving new multi-objective optimization problems.

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.


2012 ◽  
Vol 433-440 ◽  
pp. 2808-2816
Author(s):  
Jian Jin Zheng ◽  
You Shen Xia

This paper presents a new interactive neural network for solving constrained multi-objective optimization problems. The constrained multi-objective optimization problem is reformulated into two constrained single objective optimization problems and two neural networks are designed to obtain the optimal weight and the optimal solution of the two optimization problems respectively. The proposed algorithm has a low computational complexity and is easy to be implemented. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is well applied to the design of digital filters. Computed results illustrate the good performance of the proposed algorithm.


2015 ◽  
Vol 651-653 ◽  
pp. 1387-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Iorio ◽  
Lionel Fourment ◽  
Stephane Marie ◽  
Matteo Strano

The Game Theory is a good method for finding a compromise between two players in a bargaining problem. The Kalai and Smorodinsky (K-S) method is a solution the bargaining problem where players make decisions in order to maximize their own utility, with a cooperative approach. Interesting applications of the K-S method can be found in engineering multi-objective optimization problems, where two or more functions must be minimized. The aim of this paper is to develop an optimization algorithm aimed at rapidly finding the Kalai and Smorodinsky solution, where the objective functions are considered as players in a bargaining problem, avoiding the search for the Pareto front. The approach uses geometrical consideration in the space of the objective functions, starting from the knowledge of the so-called Utopia and Nadir points. An analytical solution is proposed and initially tested with a simple minimization problem based on a known mathematical function. Then, the algorithm is tested (thanks to a user friendly routine built-in the finite element code Forge®) for FEM optimization problem of a wire drawing operation, with the objective of minimizing the pulling force and the material damage. The results of the simulations are compared to previous works done with others methodologies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 962-965 ◽  
pp. 2903-2908
Author(s):  
Yun Lian Liu ◽  
Wen Li ◽  
Tie Bin Wu ◽  
Yun Cheng ◽  
Tao Yun Zhou ◽  
...  

An improved multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed to solve constrained optimization problems. The constrained optimization problem is converted into a multi-objective optimization problem. In the evolution process, our algorithm is based on multi-objective technique, where the population is divided into dominated and non-dominated subpopulation. Arithmetic crossover operator is utilized for the randomly selected individuals from dominated and non-dominated subpopulation, respectively. The crossover operator can lead gradually the individuals to the extreme point and improve the local searching ability. Diversity mutation operator is introduced for non-dominated subpopulation. Through testing the performance of the proposed algorithm on 3 benchmark functions and 1 engineering optimization problems, and comparing with other meta-heuristics, the result of simulation shows that the proposed algorithm has great ability of global search. Keywords: multi-objective optimization;genetic algorithm;constrained optimization problem;engineering application


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (19-21) ◽  
pp. 1740073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Huang ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Zhicheng Ji

Multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) need to be solved in real world recently. In this paper, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization based on Pareto set and aggregation approach was proposed to deal with MOPs. Firstly, velocities and positions were updated similar to PSO. Then, global-best set was defined in particle swarm optimizer to preserve Pareto-based set obtained by the population. Specifically, a hybrid updating strategy based on Pareto set and aggregation approach was introduced to update the global-best set and local search was carried on global-best set. Thirdly, personal-best positions were updated in decomposition way, and global-best position was selected from global-best set. Finally, ZDT instances and DTLZ instances were selected to evaluate the performance of MULPSO and the results show validity of the proposed algorithm for MOPs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Yi ◽  
Xiaowei Yang ◽  
Han Huang ◽  
Jiahai Wang

Constrained multi-objective optimization problems exist widely in real-world applications, and they involve a simultaneous optimization of multiple and often conflicting objectives subject to several equality and/or inequality constraints. To deal with these problems, a crucial issue is how to handle constraints effectively. This paper proposes a simple yet effective constrained decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. In the proposal, the evolutionary process is divided into two stages in which constraints are handled differently. In the first stage, constraints are totally ignored and the population is pulled toward the unconstrained Pareto-optimal front (PF) by optimizing objectives only. This can help the proposed algorithm handle well problems with the following features, i.e., the constrained PF has an intersection with the unconstrained counterpart, and there are infeasible regions blocking the way of convergence. In the second stage, with the purpose of approximating the constrained PF well,constraint satisfaction is emphasized over objective minimization.Moreover, different evolutionary frameworks are adopted in the two stages to promote the performance of the algorithm as much as possible. The proposed algorithm is comprehensively compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms on 39 problems (with 266 test instances in total), including one real-world problem (with 36 instances) in search-based software engineering. As shown by the experimental results, the new algorithm performs best on the majority of these problems, particularly on those with the aforementioned features. In summary, the suggested algorithm provides an effective way of handling constrained multi-objective optimization problems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 951-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodoro Macias-Escobar ◽  
Laura Cruz-Reyes ◽  
Bernabé Dorronsoro ◽  
Héctor Fraire-Huacuja ◽  
Nelson Rangel-Valdez ◽  
...  

It is important to know the properties of an optimization problem and the difficulty an algorithm faces to solve it. Population evolvability obtains information related to both elements by analysing the probability of an algorithm to improve current solutions and the degree of those improvements. DPEM_HH is a dynamic multi-objective hyper-heuristic that uses low-level heuristic (LLH) selection methods that apply population evolvability. DPEM_HH uses dynamic multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (DMOEAs) as LLHs to solve dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs). Population evolvability is incorporated in DPEM_HH by calculating it on each candidate DMOEA for a set of sampled generations after a change is detected, using those values to select which LLH will be applied. DPEM_HH is tested on multiple DMOPs with dynamic properties that provide several challenges. Experimental results show that DPEM_HH with a greedy LLH selection method that uses average population evolvability values can produce solutions closer to the Pareto optimal front with equal to or better diversity than previously proposed heuristics. This shows the effectiveness and feasibility of the application of population evolvability on hyperheuristics to solve dynamic optimization problems.


Author(s):  
Gabriele Eichfelder ◽  
Leo Warnow

AbstractFor a continuous multi-objective optimization problem, it is usually not a practical approach to compute all its nondominated points because there are infinitely many of them. For this reason, a typical approach is to compute an approximation of the nondominated set. A common technique for this approach is to generate a polyhedron which contains the nondominated set. However, often these approximations are used for further evaluations. For those applications a polyhedron is a structure that is not easy to handle. In this paper, we introduce an approximation with a simpler structure respecting the natural ordering. In particular, we compute a box-coverage of the nondominated set. To do so, we use an approach that, in general, allows us to update not only one but several boxes whenever a new nondominated point is found. The algorithm is guaranteed to stop with a finite number of boxes, each being sufficiently thin.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 677-688
Author(s):  
Kim C. Long ◽  
William S Duff ◽  
John W Labadie ◽  
Mitchell J Stansloski ◽  
Walajabad S Sampath ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a real world application of an innovative hybrid system reliability optimization algorithm combining Tabu search with an evolutionary algorithm (TSEA). This algorithm combines Tabu search and Genetic algorithm to provide a more efficient search method. Design/methodology/approach – The new algorithm is applied to an aircraft structure to optimize its reliability and maintain its structural integrity. For retrofitting the horizontal stabilizer under severe stall buffet conditions, a decision support system (DSS) is developed using the TSEA algorithm. This system solves a reliability optimization problem under cost and configuration constraints. The DSS contains three components: a graphical user interface, a database and several modules to provide the optimized retrofitting solutions. Findings – The authors found that the proposed algorithm performs much better than state-of-the-art methods such as Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithms on bench mark problems. In addition, the proposed TSEA method can be easily applied to complex real world optimization problem with superior performance. When the full combination of all input variables increases exponentially, the DSS become very efficient. Practical implications – This paper presents an application of the TSEA algorithm for solving nonlinear multi-objective reliability optimization problems embedded in a DSS. The solutions include where to install doublers and stiffeners. Compromise programming is used to rank all non-dominant solutions. Originality/value – The proposed hybrid algorithm (TSEA) assigns fitness based upon global dominance which ensures its convergence to the non-dominant front. The high efficiency of this algorithm came from using Tabu list to guidance the search to the Pareto-optimal solutions.


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