Improving the performance of differential evolution algorithm using Cauchy mutation

Differential evolution (DE) is a powerful yet simple evolutionary algorithm for optimization of real-valued, multimodal functions. DE is generally considered as a reliable, accurate and robust optimization technique. However, the algorithm suffers from premature convergence and/or slow convergence rate resulting in poor solution quality and/or larger number of function evaluation resulting in large CPU time for optimizing the computationally expensive objective functions. Therefore, an attempt to speed up DE is considered necessary. This research introduces a modified differential evolution (MDE) that enhances the convergence rate without compromising with the solution quality. The proposed MDE algorithm maintains a failure_counter (FC) to keep a tab on the performance of the algorithm by scanning or monitoring the individuals. Finally, the individuals that fail to show any improvement in the function value for a successive number of generations are subject to Cauchy mutation with the hope of pulling them out of a local attractor which may be the cause of their deteriorating performance. The performance of proposed MDE is investigated on a comprehensive set of 15 standard benchmark problems with varying degrees of complexities and 7 nontraditional problems suggested in the special session of CEC2008. Numerical results and statistical analysis show that the proposed modifications help in locating the global optimal solution in lesser numbers of function evaluation in comparison with basic DE and several other contemporary optimization algorithms.     

Adaptive direction information in differential evolution for numerical optimization

Differential evolution (DE) is a powerful evolutionary algorithm (EA) for numerical optimization. It has been successfully used in various scientific and engineering fields. In most of the DE algorithms, the neighborhood and direction information are not fully and simultaneously exploited to guide the search. Most recently, to make full use of these information, a DE framework with neighborhood and direction information (NDi-DE) was proposed. It was experimentally demonstrated that NDi-DE was effective for most of the DE algorithms. However, the performance of NDi-DE heavily depends on the selection of direction information. To alleviate this drawback and improve the performance of NDi-DE, the adaptive operator selection (AOS) mechanism is introduced into NDi-DE to adaptively select the direction information for the specific DE mutation strategy. Therefore, a new DE framework, adaptive direction information based NDi-DE (aNDi-DE), is proposed in this study. With AOS, the good balance between exploration and exploitation of aNDi-DE can be dynamically achieved. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of aNDi-DE, the proposed framework is applied to the original DE algorithms, as well as several advanced DE variants. Experimental results show that aNDi-DE is able to adaptively select the most suitable type of direction information for the specific DE mutation strategy during the evolutionary process. The efficiency and robustness of aNDi-DE are also confirmed by comparing with NDi-DE.     

类搜索算法

提出利用类结构驱动的群体进化计算方法——类搜索算法(CSA).CSA在个体间构造簇类形态的虚拟连接关系,并通过对类组织的结构和类搜索过程进行动态调节来优化模拟进化系统的计算状态,提高群体的搜索效率.介绍了CSA的基本模型,并基于CSA融合进化算子与差分计算机制设计出数值优化算法CSA/DE.对多个典型高纬函数和复杂混合函数的仿真实验结果说明,CSA/DE是一种对高纬连续问题高效、稳定的搜索优化方法.该工作一方面验证了CSA的可行性和有效性;另一方面则显示:基于类搜索模型可有效融合异构且具有不同计算特性的搜索机制,形成对待求解问题更具针对性且协调性更佳的搜索计算方法.这为高性能优化算法的设计提供了一条新的途径.     

自适应变异差分进化算法估计软测量参数

提出一种自适应变异差分进化算法(ADE),能根据搜索进展情况自适应地确定变异率,使算法在初期保持个体的多样性,避免早熟:在后期逐步降低变异率,保留优良信息,避免最优解遭到破坏,增加搜索到全局最优值的概率．与传统的差分进化算法(DE)相比较,ADE算法的离线性能和在线性能都有较大的改进,搜索到全局最优解的概率获得较大提高,对算法参数的敏感性低．本文将ADE算法应用于对苯二甲酸中对羧基苯甲醛含量软测量模型的参数估计,获得了满意的结果．     

Hybrid adaptive differential evolution for mobile robot localization

This paper introduces a new evolutionary optimization algorithm named hybrid adaptive differential evolution (HADE) and applies it to the mobile robot localization problem. The behaviour of evolutionary algorithms is highly dependent on the parameter selection. This algorithm utilizes an adaptive method to tune the mutation parameter to enhance the rate of convergence and eliminate the need for manual tuning. A hybrid method for mutation is also introduced to give more diversity to the population. This method which constantly switches between two mutation schemes guarantees a sufficient level of diversity to avoid local optima. We use a well-known test set in continuous domain to evaluate HADE’s performance against the standard version of differential evolution (DE) and a self-adaptive version of the algorithm. The results show that HADE outperforms DE and self-adaptive DE in three of four benchmarks. Moreover, we investigate the performance of HADE in the well-known localization problem of mobile robots. Results show that HADE is capable of estimating the robot’s pose accurately with a decreased number of individuals needed for convergence compared with DE and particle swarm optimization methods. Comparative study exposes HADE algorithm as a competitive method for mobile robot localization.     

Classification-based self-adaptive differential evolution with fast and reliable convergence performance

To avoid the problems of slow and premature convergence of the differential evolution (DE) algorithm, this paper presents a new DE variant named p-ADE. It improves the convergence performance by implementing a new mutation strategy “DE/rand-to-best/pbest”, together with a classification mechanism, and controlling the parameters in a dynamic adaptive manner, where the “DE/rand-to-best/pbest” utilizes the current best solution together with the best previous solution of each individual to guide the search direction. The classification mechanism helps to balance the exploration and exploitation of individuals with different fitness characteristics, thus improving the convergence rate. Dynamic self-adaptation is beneficial for controlling the extent of variation for each individual. Also, it avoids the requirement for prior knowledge about parameter settings. Experimental results confirm the superiority of p-ADE over several existing DE variants as well as other significant evolutionary optimizers.     

基于Baldwin效应的直觉模糊自适应差分进化算法

针对现有改进差分进化算法易陷入局部最优解的不足,提出一种改进的自适应差分进化算法。该算法对精英个体实施Baldwin学习,使其在不确定代数内保持基因型不变并尝试多种表现型以引导种群中其他个体进化;同时用直觉模糊推理的方法对缩放因子进行自适应反馈控制。通过对19个典型benchmark函数进行测试,并与其他知名改进差分进化算法对比,仿真结果表明该改进方法具有较强的跳出局部最优解能力和较快的收敛速度。     

A DE-based approach to no-wait flow-shop scheduling

This paper proposes an effective hybrid differential evolution (HDE) for the no-wait flow-shop scheduling problem (FSSP) with the makespan criterion, which is a typical NP-hard combinational optimization problem. Firstly, a largest-order-value (LOV) rule is presented to transform individuals in DE from real vectors to job permutations so that the DE can be applied for solving FSSPs. Secondly, the DE-based parallel evolution mechanism and framework is applied to perform effective exploration, and a simple but efficient local search developed according to the landscape of FSSP is applied to emphasize problem-dependent local exploitation. Thirdly, a speed-up evaluation method and a fast Insert-based neighborhood examining method are developed based on the properties of the no-wait FSSPs. Due to the hybridization of DE-based evolutionary search and problem-dependent local search as well as the utilization of the speed-up evaluation and fast neighborhood examining, the no-wait FSSPs can be solved efficiently and effectively. Simulations and comparisons based on well-known benchmarks demonstrate the efficiency, effectiveness, and robustness of the proposed HDE.     

A preference multi-objective optimization based on adaptive rank clone and differential evolution

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) algorithms have been used in various real-world applications. However, most of the Pareto domination based multi-objective optimization evolutionary algorithms are not suitable for many-objective optimization. Recently, EMO algorithm incorporated decision maker’s preferences became a new trend for solving many-objective problems and showed a good performance. In this paper, we first use a new selection scheme and an adaptive rank based clone scheme to exploit the dynamic information of the online antibody population. Moreover, a special differential evolution (DE) scheme is combined with directional information by selecting parents for the DE calculation according to the ranks of individuals within a population. So the dominated solutions can learn the information of the non-dominated ones by using directional information. The proposed method has been extensively compared with two-archive algorithm, light beam search non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II and preference rank immune memory clone selection algorithm over several benchmark multi-objective optimization problems with from two to ten objectives. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm achieves competitive results.     

基于相似历史信息迁移学习的进化优化框架

现有进化算法大都从问题的零初始信息开始搜索最优解, 没有利用先前解决相似问题时获得的历史信息, 在一定程度上浪费了计算资源.将迁移学习的思想扩展到进化优化领域, 本文研究一种基于相似历史信息迁移学习的进化优化框架.从已解决问题的模型库中找到与新问题匹配的历史问题, 将历史问题对应的知识迁移到新问题的求解过程中, 以提高种群的搜索效率.首先, 定义一种基于多分布估计的最大均值差异指标, 用来评价新问题与历史模型之间的匹配程度; 接着, 将相匹配的历史问题的知识迁移到新问题中, 给出一种基于模型匹配程度的进化种群初始化策略, 以加快算法的搜索速度; 然后, 给出一种基于迭代聚类的代表个体保存策略, 保留求解过程中产生的优势信息, 用于更新历史模型库; 最后, 将自适应骨干粒子群优化算法嵌入到所提框架, 给出一种基于相似历史信息迁移学习的骨干粒子群优化算法.针对多个改进的典型测试函数, 实验结果表明, 所提迁移策略可以加速粒子群的搜索过程, 显著提高算法的收敛速度和搜索效率.     

An evolving surrogate model-based differential evolution algorithm

Differential evolution (DE) is a simple and effective approach for solving numerical optimization problems. However, the performance of DE is sensitive to the choice of mutation and crossover strategies and their associated control parameters. Therefore, to achieve optimal performance, a time-consuming parameter tuning process is required. In DE, the use of different mutation and crossover strategies with different parameter settings can be appropriate during different stages of the evolution. Therefore, to achieve optimal performance using DE, various adaptation, self-adaptation, and ensemble techniques have been proposed. Recently, a classification-assisted DE algorithm was proposed to overcome trial and error parameter tuning and efficiently solve computationally expensive problems. In this paper, we present an evolving surrogate model-based differential evolution (ESMDE) method, wherein a surrogate model constructed based on the population members of the current generation is used to assist the DE algorithm in order to generate competitive offspring using the appropriate parameter setting during different stages of the evolution. As the population evolves over generations, the surrogate model also evolves over the iterations and better represents the basin of search by the DE algorithm. The proposed method employs a simple Kriging model to construct the surrogate. The performance of ESMDE is evaluated on a set of 17 bound-constrained problems. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared to state-of-the-art self-adaptive DE algorithms: the classification-assisted DE algorithm, regression-assisted DE algorithm, and ranking-assisted DE algorithm.     

Self-Adapting Control Parameters in Differential Evolution: A Comparative Study on Numerical Benchmark Problems

We describe an efficient technique for adapting control parameter settings associated with differential evolution (DE). The DE algorithm has been used in many practical cases and has demonstrated good convergence properties. It has only a few control parameters, which are kept fixed throughout the entire evolutionary process. However, it is not an easy task to properly set control parameters in DE. We present an algorithm-a new version of the DE algorithm-for obtaining self-adaptive control parameter settings that show good performance on numerical benchmark problems. The results show that our algorithm with self-adaptive control parameter settings is better than, or at least comparable to, the standard DE algorithm and evolutionary algorithms from literature when considering the quality of the solutions obtained     

A tuning strategy for multivariable PI and PID controllers using differential evolution combined with chaotic Zaslavskii map

A technique for tuning of decoupled proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) multivariable controllers based on a chaotic differential evolution (DE) approach is presented in this paper. Due to the simple concept, easy implementation and quick convergence, nowadays DE has gained much attention and wide application in solving continuous non-linear optimization problems. However, the performance of DE greatly depends on its control parameters and it often suffers from being trapped in local optimum. The application of chaotic sequences based on chaotic Zaslavskii map instead of random sequences in DE is a powerful strategy to diversify the population and improve the DE’s performance in preventing premature convergence to local optima. The optimized PD and PID controllers shows good closed-loop responses in control of the binary Wood–Berry distillation column, a multivariable process with strong interactions between input and output pairs. Some comparison results of PD and PID tuning using chaotic DE, classical DE and genetic algorithm are presented and discussed.     

An organizational coevolutionary algorithm for classification

Taking inspiration from the interacting process among organizations in human societies, a new classification algorithm, organizational coevolutionary algorithm for classification (OCEC), is proposed with the intrinsic properties of classification in mind. The main difference between OCEC and the available classification approaches based on evolutionary algorithms (EAs) is its use of a bottom-up search mechanism. OCEC causes the evolution of sets of examples, and at the end of the evolutionary process, extracts rules from these sets. These sets of examples form organizations. Because organizations are different from the individuals in traditional EAs, three evolutionary operators and a selection mechanism are devised for realizing the evolutionary operations performed on organizations. This method can avoid generating meaningless rules during the evolutionary process. An evolutionary method is also devised for determining the significance of each attribute, on the basis of which, the fitness function for organizations is defined. In experiments, the effectiveness of OCEC is first evaluated by multiplexer problems. Then, OCEC is compared with several well-known classification algorithms on 12 benchmarks from the UCI repository datasets and multiplexer problems. Moreover, OCEC is applied to a practical case, radar target recognition problems. All results show that OCEC achieves a higher predictive accuracy and a lower computational cost. Finally, the scalability of OCEC is studied on synthetic datasets. The number of training examples increases from 100 000 to 10 million, and the number of attributes increases from 9 to 400. The results show that OCEC obtains a good scalability.     

A novel clustering-based differential evolution with 2 multi-parent crossovers for global optimization

Differential evolution (DE) is a simple and efficient global optimization algorithm. However, DE has been shown to have certain weaknesses, especially if the global optimum should be located using a limited number of function evaluations (NFEs). Hence hybridization with other methods is a research direction for the improvement of differential evolution. In this paper, a hybrid DE based on the one-step k-means clustering and 2 multi-parent crossovers, called clustering-based differential evolution with 2 multi-parent crossovers (2-MPCs-CDE) is proposed for the unconstrained global optimization problems. In 2-MPCs-CDE, k cluster centers and several new individuals generate two search spaces. These spaces are then searched in turn. This method utilizes the information of the population effectively and improves search efficiency. Hence it can enhance the performance of DE. A comprehensive set of 35 benchmark functions is employed for experimental verification. Experimental results indicate that 2-MPCs-CDE is effective and efficient. Compared with other state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms, 2-MPCs-CDE performs better, or at least comparably, in terms of the solution accuracy and the convergence rate.     

一种基于新型差分进化模型的MOEA/D改进算法

针对MOEA/D算法中差分进化操作收敛精度不高且速度较慢的不足,提出了一种综合基于可控支配域的向量差生成策略和基于主成分的动态缩放因子的新型差分进化模型,均衡显性与隐性搜索引导;并实现了一种基于新型差分进化模型的MOEA/D改进算法（MOEA/D-iDE）。新型差分进化是借助基于可控支配域的非支配排序对邻域进行分层,根据分层信息生成与不同进化阶段相匹配的向量差,实现对种群收敛速度的显性引导;同时对决策空间进行主成分分析,动态调整差分进化缩放因子,实现对种群收敛精度的隐性引导。实验选取ZDT、DTLZ和WFG等为测试问题,以IGD+,ER作为评价指标,将MOEA/D-iDE算法与6个同类算法进行对比实验,结果表明新算法在保证多样性的同时具有更好的收敛速度与精度,从而验证了新型差分进化模型的有效性。     

一种基于相似个体的多目标进化算法

分布性保持是多目标进化算法研究的一个重要方面,一个好的分布性能给决策者提供更多合理有效的选择。Pareto最优解的分布性主要体现在分布广度与均匀性两个方面。提出一种基于相似个体的多目标进化算法（SMOEA）。在种群维护中删除相似程度最大的个体;在进化操作中,选取了相似程度最大的个体进行进化。与目前经典算法NSGA-II和ε-MOEA进行比较,结果表明新算法拥有良好的分布性,同时也较好的改善了收敛性。     

Genetic fuzzy systems to evolve interaction strategies in multiagent systems

This article suggests an evolutionary approach to designing interaction strategies for multiagent systems, focusing on strategies modeled as fuzzy rule‐based systems. The aim is to learn models evolving database and rule bases to improve agent performance when playing in a competitive environment. In competitive situations, data for learning and tuning are rare, and rule bases must jointly evolve with the databases. We introduce an evolutionary algorithm whose operators use variable length chromosomes, a hierarchical relationship among individuals through fitness, and a scheme that successively explores and exploits the search space along generations. Evolution of interaction strategies uncovers unknown and unexpected agent behaviors and allows a richer analysis of negotiation mechanisms and their role as a coordination protocol. An application concerning an electricity market illustrates the effectiveness of the approach. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 22: 971–991, 2007.     

Learning-enhanced differential evolution for numerical optimization

Differential evolution (DE) is a simple and powerful population-based search algorithm, successfully used in various scientific and engineering fields. However, DE is not free from the problems of stagnation and premature convergence. Hence, designing more effective search strategies to enhance the performance of DE is one of the most salient and active topics. This paper proposes a new method, called learning-enhanced DE (LeDE) that promotes individuals to exchange information systematically. Distinct from the existing DE variants, LeDE adopts a novel learning strategy, namely clustering-based learning strategy (CLS). In CLS, there are two levels of learning strategies, intra-cluster learning strategy and inter-cluster learning strategy. They are adopted for exchanging information within the same cluster and between different clusters, respectively. Experimental studies over 23 benchmark functions show that LeDE significantly outperforms the conventional DE. Compared with other clustering-based DE algorithms, LeDE can obtain better solutions. In addition, LeDE is also shown to be significantly better than or at least comparable to several state-of-art DE variants as well as some other evolutionary algorithms.     

双种群差分进化规划算法

标准差分进化算法（SDE）具有算法简单,控制参数少,易于实现等优点。但在难优化问题中,算法存在收敛速度较慢和容易早熟等缺陷。为克服此缺点,提出一种改进算法--双种群差分进化规划算法（BGDEP）。该算法将种群划分为两个子群独立进化,分别采用DE/rand/1/bin和DE/best/2/bin版本生成变异个体。每隔δt（取5~10）代,将两个子群合并为一个种群,再应用混沌重组算子将之划分为两个子群,以实现子群间的信息交流。在双种群协同差分进化的同时,应用非均匀变异算子对其最优个体执行进化规划操作,使得算法具有较快的收敛速度和较强的全局寻优能力。为测试BGDEP的性能,给出了4个30维benchmark函数优化问题的对比数值实验。结果表明,BGDEP的求解精度、收敛速度、鲁棒性等性能优于SDE、双种群差分进化（BGDE）和非均匀变异进化规划（NUMEP）等4种算法。