Component-based design of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms using the Tigon optimization library

Abstract

Multi-objective optimization problems involve several conflicting objectives that have to be optimized simultaneously. Generating a complete Pareto-optimal front (POF) can be computationally expensive or even infeasible, and for that reason there has been an enormous interest in using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs), which are known to generate a good approximation of the POF. MOEAs can be difficult to implement, and even for experienced optimization experts it can be a very time consuming task. For this reason several optimization libraries exist in the literature, providing off-the-shelf access to the most popular MOEAs. Some optimization libraries also provide a framework to design MOEAs. However, existing frameworks can be too stringent and do not provide sufficient flexibility for the design of more sophisticated MOEAs. To address this, a recently proposed optimization library, known as Tigon, features a component-based framework for the design of MOEAs with a focus on flexibility and re-usability. This paper demonstrates the generality of this new framework by showing how to implement different types of MOEAs, covering several paradigms in evolutionary computation. The work in this paper serves as a guide for researchers, and others alike, to build their own MOEAs by using the Tigon optimization library.