Search

Distributed optimization algorithms have the advantages of privacy protection and parallel computing. However, the distributed nature of these algorithms makes the system vulnerable to external attacks. This paper presents two penalty function based resilient algorithms for constrained distributed optimization under static and dynamic attacks. The objective function of the optimization problem is extended to nonsmooth ones and the convergence of the proposed algorithms in this case are proved under some mild conditions. Simulation experiments are performed and compared with some existing resilient primal-dual optimization algorithms using median-based mean estimator. For static attack, the proposed algorithm has better performance and faster convergence rate in the simulation experiments. For dynamic attack, the proposed algorithm has better performance and robustness in the simulation experiments, which illustrate that the proposed algorithms are more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs) require a delicate balance between satisfying constraints and optimizing objectives. Existing constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (CMOEAs) often struggle to balance convergence, diversity, and feasibility, especially when dealing with CMOPs that have complex feasible regions. This paper proposes a multi-task-based self-organizing mapping evolutionary algorithm (MTSOM) to tackle this challenge, which includes a main and auxiliary task. Two populations independently optimize two tasks without considering constraints in the early stage. Subsequently, in the middle stage, both tasks explore the distribution structure of the population in parallel by employing a novel constraint-to-constraint self-organizing mapping (SOM) approach. In the late stage, the main task fully considers feasibility, while the auxiliary task focuses solely on the highest priority constraints. This approach enables rapid convergence toward feasible regions. To evaluate MTSOM's effectiveness, we conducted a series of experiments on five benchmark suites. Results indicate that MTSOM is competitive when compared to other state-of-the-art CMOEAs. Additionally, our proposed constraint-to-constraint SOM is superior in handling complex CMOPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many domination-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are designed for constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs). However, they still face the challenge of balancing the feasibility, convergence and distribution. This paper tackles this issue by proposing a multi-objective differential evolution algorithm based on domination and a mechanism of constraint-handling switching (MODE-CHS). In constraint-handling switching, if there are no feasible solutions in the population, the population evolves by constraint-handling; otherwise, the population evolves without handling constraints. This mechanism enhances the rate of population convergence to the maximum while obtaining the feasible solutions. Furthermore, in MODE-CHS, the feasible solutions are saved to an external archive and evolve together with the population to explore the feasible region. Meanwhile, to enhance the distribution, the offspring of the external archive also participates in the individual-update procedure of the population. 27 bench-mark test problems and two real-world problems are used for the performance comparison of the proposed algorithm with other five state-of-the-art algorithms. In the experiment, the proposed algorithm, MODE-CHS, is shown to produce satisfactory solutions for most of the tested functions, where other five MOEAs perform relatively worse. The experiment results demonstrate MODE-CHS is very competitive for solving CMOPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key issue in evolutionary constrained optimization is how to achieve a balance between feasible and infeasible solutions. The quality of generated solutions in decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) depends strongly on the weights' setting. To fully utilize both the promising feasible and infeasible solutions, this paper proposes two-type weight adjustments based on MOEA/D for solving highly constrained many-objective optimization problems (CMaOPs). During the course of the search, the number of infeasible weights is dynamically reduced, to guide infeasible solutions with better convergence to cross the infeasible barrier, and also to lead infeasible solutions with better diversity to locate multiple feasible subregions. Feasible weights are evenly distributed and keep unchanged throughout the evolution process, which aims to guide the population to search Pareto optimal solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified by comparing it against six state-of-the-art CMaOEAs on three sets of benchmark problems. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms compared algorithms on majority problems, especially on highly constrained optimization problems. Besides, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has also been verified on an antenna array synthesis problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybridization in context to Evolutionary Computation (EC) strives to combine operators, components, and the best merits of different EC paradigms, to form a new evolutionary algorithm that enjoys a statistically superior performance, compared to its ancestors, over a wide range of application-specific optimization problems. In this paper, we propose a simple yet powerful amalgam composed of a modified Cultural Algorithm (CA) that is supported with an Enhanced Levy Flight Search (ELFS) to guide the search and further promote the harmony between the explorative and exploitative capacities of the conventional techniques. The novel amalgam, denoted by q-a CA + m IS, utilizes a balanced search scheme where it employs an adapted Influence Function (IF) with a novel quality function that establishes a harmony between the Knowledge Sources (KSs) in the Belief Space (BS), and between the BS and other components in the hybrid to produce the most suitable knowledge needed for a certain search mode. The CA framework is reinforced with an updated Selection Function (SF) that employs a successful selection strategy that uses the extended situational knowledge for the future selection of individuals. The proposed algorithm is tested using more than 50 benchmark functions that are taken from the IEEE CEC'06, and the IEEE CEC'19 competitions on constrained real-parameter optimization. Moreover, three well-known engineering design problems are used to test the validity of the algorithm for the solution of complex real-life problems. The comparative study indicates that the q-a CA + m IS algorithm was able to obtain a statistically superior performance and scalability behavior over most of the considered functions in comparison with other state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The niche-based density estimation and angle-based selection strategy are devised. • Individuals with poor diversity are identified by niche-based density estimation. • Individuals with worse convergence are removed via angle-based selection. • NAEA can be easily extended to constrained many-objective optimization problems. It is well known that balancing population diversity and convergence plays a crucial role in evolutionary many-objective optimization. However, most existing multiobjective evolutionary algorithms encounter difficulties in solving many-objective optimization problems. Thus, this paper suggests niche-based and angle-based selection strategies for many-objective evolutionary optimization. In the proposed algorithm, two strategies are included: niche-based density estimation strategy and angle-based selection strategy. Both strategies are employed in the environmental selection to eliminate the worst individual from the population in an iterative way. To be specific, the former estimates the diversity of each individual and finds the most crowded area in the population. The latter removes individuals with weak convergence in the same niche. Experimental studies on several well-known benchmark problems show that the proposed algorithm is competitive compared with six state-of-the-art many-objective algorithms. Moreover, the proposed algorithm has also been verified to be scalable to deal with constrained many-objective optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs) are difficult to handle because objectives and constraints need to be considered simultaneously, especially when the constraints are extremely complex. Some recent algorithms work well when dealing with CMOPs with a simple feasible region; however, the effectiveness of most algorithms degrades considerably for CMOPs with complex feasible regions. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multi-stage evolutionary algorithm, where constraints are added one after the other and handled in different stages of evolution. Specifically, in the early stages, the algorithm only considers a small number of constraints, which can make the population efficiently converge to the potential feasible region with good diversity. As the algorithm moves to the later stages, more constraints are considered to search the optimal solutions based on the solutions obtained in the previous stages. Furthermore, a strategy for sorting the constraint-handling priority according to the impact on the unconstrained Pareto front is proposed, which can accelerate the convergence of the algorithm. Experimental results on five benchmark suites and three real-world applications showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms several state-of-the-art constraint multi-objective evolutionary algorithms when dealing with CMOPs, especially for problems with complex constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the constrained consensus problem over multi-cluster networks. It is assumed that the agents’ states are constrained by different sets, where each constraint set is privately known by the corresponding agent. Within this framework, a hierarchical projection-based consensus algorithm is presented to solve the considered problem. Technically, the consensus analysis of the proposed algorithm consists of the following three aspects: First, by using the property of the projection operator, the limiting behaviors of the agents’ states generated by the algorithm are investigated. Then, based on the limiting behaviors, it is proven that the agents’ states in the whole network achieve a constrained consensus. Furthermore, by introducing an important auxiliary variable that relates to the agents’ states, the linear convergence of the proposed algorithm is proved. Compared with the existing results, this paper generalizes the constrained consensus methods under single-cluster networks to the multi-cluster ones. Finally, simulations are given to verify the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing multiple objectives and various constraints is crucial for effectively solving constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs). Excessive focus on either convergence or feasibility may not result in favorable outcomes of the algorithm. To confront this challenge, this paper proposes a cooperative evolutionary algorithm named SaE-CMO, which aims to achieve a harmonious balance between convergence and feasibility by extracting valuable information from both feasible and infeasible regions. To achieve this, SaE-CMO employs a dual-population approach to enhance search progress, consisting of a main population, Population1, and an auxiliary population, Population2. These two populations complement each other to achieve optimal results. A newly proposed self-adaptive epsilon method is employed in both Population1 and Population2, using different comparison criteria to select next population from mating pools, respectively. Population2 can retain some solutions that are well-constrained but poorly converged, thereby preserving information about both the constrained and the unconstrained Pareto front. This property enables Population2 to assist Population1 in maintaining diversity in certain complex CMOPs. To verify the effectiveness of SaE-CMO, we conduct experiments on three benchmark test instances and four real-world CMOPs with some related state-of-the-art constrained multi-objective optimization algorithms, experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm outperforms the compared algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of necessity to select appropriate optimization algorithms from an algorithm library due to the universality of constrained multi-objective optimization problems and the suitability of intelligent optimization algorithms, which requires a rich optimization algorithm library. This paper proposes a migration-based method of enriching the algorithm library for constrained multi-objective optimization problems. After calculating the similarity between problems based on their landscape features, the proposed method calculates the migration probabilities of intelligent optimization algorithms solving similar problems based on the performance of each algorithm and the similarity between problems. According to the redundancy and compatibility of components, the algorithms with large migration probabilities enrich the algorithm library for solving the current problem. Based on the enhanced algorithm library, a Softmax regression model is trained to generate an optimal intelligent algorithm to solve the current problem. The proposed method is applied to solve a series of constrained multi-objective optimization benchmark problems and the operation optimization problems of an integrated coal mine energy system, and the experimental results verify its effectiveness and feasibility. • A method based on landscape features is proposed to determine similar problems. • A method is given to select migrated algorithms based on similarity and performance. • A method based on redundancy and compatibility is presented to enrich an IOAL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel CHT is proposed based on Pareto dominance-based ranking and CDP-based ranking. • A search algorithm based on four mutation operators is proposed. • A new constrained multiobjective differential evolution algorithm is proposed. The tradeoff between objective functions and constraints is a key issue that needs to be addressed by constrained multiobjective optimization algorithms, and constraint handling techniques (CHTs) are an important technique for balancing objective functions and constraints. In this paper, a novel CHT that fuses two rankings is proposed. Specifically, each individual is assigned two rankings: one ranking calculated based on Pareto dominance (regardless of constraints) and another calculated based on the constrained dominance principle (CDP). The fitness value of an individual is the weighted sum of these two rankings, and the weight is related to the generation number and the proportion of feasible solutions in the current generation. Based on the proposed CHT, a constrained multiobjective differential evolution algorithm is proposed. To generate high-quality offspring, the proposed constrained multiobjective differential evolution algorithm combines four mutation operations as core components of the search algorithm. The proposed algorithm is compared with eight state-of-the-art algorithms in experiments with five test suites, and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs significantly better than the eight state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper develops a novel algorithm to solve real-world constrained optimization problems, which hybridizes multiobjective optimization techniques with an ϵ-constrained method. First, a constrained optimization problem at hand is transformed into a bi-objective optimization problem. By the transformation, the advantage of multiobjective optimization techniques can be utilized in the constrained optimization area to balance population diversity and convergence. Meanwhile, the ϵ-constrained method is applied, which keeps the population evolving toward feasible region of the constrained optimization problem. In our proposed algorithm, the differential evolution is employed as a search engine to create offspring at each generation. Further, different combinations of mutation operators have been developed to improve the search ability and the population convergence at different stages. The performance of our approach is evaluated on 64 benchmark test functions from three popular test suits. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is capable of obtaining high-quality solutions on the majority of benchmark test functions, when compared with some other state-of-the-art constrained optimization algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Teaching–Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) seems to be a rising star from amongst a number of metaheuristics with relatively competitive performances. It is reported that it outperforms some of the well-known metaheuristics regarding constrained benchmark functions, constrained mechanical design, and continuous non-linear numerical optimization problems. Such a breakthrough has steered us towards investigating the secrets of TLBO’s dominance. This paper reports our findings on TLBO qualitatively and quantitatively through code-reviews and experiments, respectively. Our findings have revealed three important mistakes regarding TLBO: (1) at least one unreported but important step; (2) incorrect formulae on a number of fitness function evaluations; and (3) misconceptions about parameter-less control. Additionally, unfair experimental settings/conditions were used to conduct experimental comparisons (e.g., different stopping criteria). The experimental results for constrained and unconstrained benchmark functions under fairly equal conditions failed to validate its performance supremacy. The ultimate goal of this paper is to provide reminders for metaheuristics’ researchers and practitioners in order to avoid similar mistakes regarding both the qualitative and quantitative aspects, and to allow fair comparisons of the TLBO algorithm to be made with other metaheuristic algorithms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Motivated by the recent success of diverse approaches based on differential evolution (DE) to solve constrained numerical optimization problems, in this paper, the performance of this novel evolutionary algorithm is evaluated. Three experiments are designed to study the behavior of different DE variants on a set of benchmark problems by using different performance measures proposed in the specialized literature. The first experiment analyzes the behavior of four DE variants in 24 test functions considering dimensionality and the type of constraints of the problem. The second experiment presents a more in-depth analysis on two DE variants by varying two parameters (the scale factor F and the population size NP), which control the convergence of the algorithm. From the results obtained, a simple but competitive combination of two DE variants is proposed and compared against state-of-the-art DE-based algorithms for constrained optimization in the third experiment. The study in this paper shows (1) important information about the behavior of DE in constrained search spaces and (2) the role of this knowledge in the correct combination of variants, based on their capabilities, to generate simple but competitive approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: How much attention should be paid to the promising infeasible solutions during the evolution process is investigated in this paper. Stochastic ranking has been demonstrated as an effective technique for constrained optimization. In stochastic ranking, the comparison probability will affect the position of feasible solution after ranking, and the quality of the final solutions. In this paper, the dynamic stochastic selection (DSS) is put forward within the framework of multimember differential evolution. Firstly, a simple version named DSS-MDE is given, where the comparison probability decreases linearly. The algorithm DSS-MDE has been compared with two state-of-the-art evolution strategies and three competitive differential evolution algorithms for constrained optimization on 13 common benchmark functions. DSS-MDE is also evaluated on four well-studied engineering design examples, and the experimental results are significantly better than current available results. Secondly, other dynamic settings of the comparison probability for DSS-MDE are also designed and tested. From the experimental results, DSS-MDE is effective for constrained optimization. Finally, DSS-MDE with a square root adjusted comparison probability is evaluated on the 22 benchmark functions in CEC’06, and the experimental results on most functions are competitive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes an improved constrained teaching–learning-based optimization (ICTLBO) method to efficiently solve constrained optimization problems (COPs). In the teacher phase of ICTLBO, the population is partitioned into several subpopulations, and the direction information between the mean position of each subpopulation and the best position of population guide the corresponding subpopulation to the promising region promptly. Information exchange between different subpopulations is used to discourage premature convergence of each subpopulation. Furthermore, in the learner phase, a new learning strategy is introduced to improve the population diversity and enhance the global search ability. Three different constraint handling methods are adopted for three situations, which are infeasible, semi-feasible, and feasible situations, during the evolution process. To evaluate the performance of ICTLBO, 22 benchmark functions presented in CEC2006 and 18 benchmark functions introduced in CEC2010 are chosen as the test suite. Moreover, four widely used engineering design problems are selected to test the performance of ICTLBO for real-world problems. Experimental results indicate that ICTLBO can obtain a highly competitive performance compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, many different variants of the particle swarm optimizer (PSO) for solving optimization problems have been proposed. However, PSO has an inherent drawback in handling constrained problems, mainly because of its complexity and dependency on parameters. Furthermore, one PSO variant may perform well for some test problems but not obtain good results for others. In this paper, our purpose is to develop a new PSO algorithm that can efficiently solve a variety of constrained optimization problems. It considers a mix of different PSO variants each of which evolves with a different number of individuals from the current population. In each generation, the algorithm assigns more individuals to the better-performing variants and fewer to the worse-performing ones. Also, a new PSO variant is developed for use in the proposed algorithm to maintain a better balance between its local and global PSO versions. A new methodology for adapting PSO parameters is presented and the proposed self-adaptive PSO algorithm tested and analyzed on two sets of test problems, namely the CEC2006 and CEC2010 constrained optimization problems. Based on the results, the proposed algorithm shows significantly better performance than the same global and local PSO variants as well as other-state-of-the-art algorithms. Although, based on our analysis, it cannot guarantee an optimal solution for any unknown problem, it is expected to be able to solve a wide variety of practical problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a novel Constrained Optimization based on Modified Differential Evolution algorithm (COMDE). In the new algorithm, a new directed mutation rule, based on the weighted difference vector between the best and the worst individuals at a particular generation, is introduced. The new directed mutation rule is combined with the modified basic mutation strategy DE/rand/1/bin, where only one of the two mutation rules is applied with the probability of 0.5. The proposed mutation rule is shown to enhance the local search ability of the basic Differential Evolution (DE) and to get a better trade-off between convergence rate and robustness. Two new scaling factors are introduced as uniform random variables to improve the diversity of the population and to bias the search direction. Additionally, a dynamic non-linear increased crossover probability is utilized to balance the global exploration and local exploitation. COMDE also includes a modified constraint handling technique based on feasibility and the sum of constraints violations. A new dynamic tolerance technique to handle equality constraints is also adopted. The effectiveness and benefits of the new directed mutation strategy and modified basic strategy used in COMDE has been experimentally investigated. The effect of the parameters of the crossover probability function and the parameters of the dynamic tolerance equation on the performance of COMDE have been analyzed and evaluated by different experiments. Numerical experiments on 13 well-known benchmark test functions and five engineering design problems have shown that the new approach is efficient, effective and robust. The comparison results between the COMDE and the other 28 state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms indicate that the proposed COMDE algorithm is competitive with, and in some cases superior to, other existing algorithms in terms of the quality, efficiency, convergence rate, and robustness of the final solution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, an effective shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) is proposed for solving the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MRCPSP). In the SFLA, the virtual frogs are encoded as the extended multi-mode activity list (EMAL) and decoded by the multi-mode serial schedule generation scheme (MSSGS). Initially, the mode assignment lists of the population are generated randomly, and the activity lists of the population are generated by the regret-based sampling method and the latest finish time (LFT) priority rule. Then, virtual frogs are partitioned into several memeplexes that evolve simultaneously by performing the simplified two-point crossover (STPC). To enhance the exploitation ability, the combined local search including the multi-mode permutation based local search (MPBLS) and the multi-mode forward–backward improvement (MFBI) is further performed in each memeplex. To maintain the diversity of each memeplex, virtual frogs are periodically shuffled and reorganized into new memeplexes. Computational results based on the well-known benchmarks and comparisons with some existing algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed SFLA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]