An evolutionary many-objective optimisation algorithm with adaptive region decomposition

Abstract

When optimizing an multiobjective optimization problem, the evolution of population can be regarded as a approximation to the Pareto Front (PF). Motivated by this idea, we propose an adaptive region decomposition framework: MOEA/D-AM2M for the degenerated Many-Objective optimization problem (MaOP), where degenerated MaOP refers to the optimization problem with a degenerated PF in a subspace of the objective space. In this framework, a complex MaOP can be adaptively decomposed into a number of many-objective optimization subproblems, which is realized by the adaptively direction vectors design according to the present population's distribution. A new adaptive weight vectors design method based on this adaptive region decomposition is also proposed for selection in MOEA/D-AM2M. This strategy can timely adjust the regions and weights according to the population's tendency in the evolutionary process, which serves as a remedy for the inefficiency of fixed and evenly distributed weights when solving MaOP with a degenerated PF. Five degenerated MaOPs with disconnected PFs are generated to identify the effectiveness of proposed MOEA/D-AM2M. Contrast experiments are conducted by optimizing those MaOPs using MOEA/D-AM2M, MOEA/D-DE and MOEA/D-M2M. Simulation results have shown that the proposed MOEA/D-AM2M outperforms MOEA/D-DE and MOEA/D-M2M.