A Hybrid Meta-Heuristic for Multi-Objective Optimization: MOSATS

Real optimization problems often involve not one, but multiple objectives, usually in conflict. In single-objective optimization there exists a global optimum, while in the multi-objective case no optimal solution is clearly defined but rather a set of solutions, called the Pareto-optimal front. Thus, the goal of multi-objective strategies is to generate a set of non-dominated solutions as an approximation to this front. However, the majority of problems of this kind cannot be solved exactly because they have very large and highly complex search spaces. In recent years, meta-heuristics have become important tools for solving multi-objective problems encountered in industry as well as in the theoretical field. This paper presents a novel approach based on hybridizing Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search. Experiments on the Graph Partitioning Problem show that this new method is a better tool for approximating the efficient set than other strategies also based on these meta-heuristics.     

Solving a new stochastic multi-mode p-hub covering location problem considering risk by a novel multi-objective algorithm

In this paper, we develop a novel stochastic multi-objective multi-mode transportation model for hub covering location problem under uncertainty. The transportation time between each pair of nodes is an uncertain parameter and also is influenced by a risk factor in the network. We extend the traditional comprehensive hub location problem by considering two new objective functions. So, our multi-objective model includes (i) minimization of total current investment costs and (ii) minimization of maximum transportation time between each origin–destination pair in the network. Besides, a novel multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm (MOICA) is proposed to obtain the Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem. The performance of the proposed solution algorithm is compared with two well-known meta-heuristics, namely, non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and Pareto archive evolution strategy (PAES). Computational results show that MOICA outperforms the other meta-heuristics.     

Cooperative Parallel Variable Neighborhood Search for the p-Median

We propose a cooperative multi-search method for the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) meta-heuristic based on the central-memory mechanism that has been successfully applied to a number of difficult combinatorial problems. In this approach, several independent VNS meta-heuristics cooperate by asynchronously exchanging information about the best solutions identified so far, thus conserving the simplicity of the original, sequential VNS ideas. The p-median problem (PM) serves as test case. Extensive experimentations have been conducted on the classical TSPLIB benchmark problem instances with up to 11948 customers and 1000 medians, without any particular calibration of the parallel method. The results indicate that, compared to sequential VNS, the cooperative strategy yields significant gains in terms of computation time without a loss in solution quality.     

Multi-objective meta-heuristics: An overview of the current state-of-the-art

This paper gives an overview of meta-heuristics methods utilized within the paradigm of multi-objective programming. This is an area of research that has undergone substantial expansion and development in the past decade. A literature review for this period is presented and analyzed. Analysis of the types of multi-objective techniques and meta-heuristics is undertaken and reasons for their use hypothesized. The strengths and weaknesses of meta-heuristic methods as applied to multi-objective programmes are discussed. Finally, a summary is given together with suggestions for future research.     

Implementation of scatter search for multi-objective optimization: a comparative study

Interest in the design of efficient meta-heuristics for the application to combinatorial optimization problems is growing rapidly. The optimal design of water distribution networks is an important optimization problem which consists of finding the best way of conveying water from the sources to the users, thus satisfying their requirements. The efficient design of looped networks is a much more complex problem than the design of branched ones, but their greater reliability can compensate for the increase in cost when closing some loops. Mathematically, this is a non-linear optimization problem, constrained to a combinatorial space, since the diameters are discrete and it has a very large number of local solutions. Many works have dealt with the minimization of the cost of the network but few have considered their cost and reliability simultaneously. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of an implementation of Scatter Search in a multi-objective formulation of this problem. Results obtained in three benchmark networks show that the method here proposed performs accurately well in comparison with other multi-objective approaches also implemented.     

A cooperative swarm intelligence algorithm for multi-objective discrete optimization with application to the knapsack problem

We propose a novel cooperative swarm intelligence algorithm to solve multi-objective discrete optimization problems (MODP). Our algorithm combines a firefly algorithm (FA) and a particle swarm optimization (PSO). Basically, we address three main points: the effect of FA and PSO cooperation on the exploration of the search space, the discretization of the two algorithms using a transfer function, and finally, the use of the epsilon dominance relation to manage the size of the external archive and to guarantee the convergence and the diversity of Pareto optimal solutions.We compared the results of our algorithm with the results of five well-known meta-heuristics on nine multi-objective knapsack problem benchmarks. The experiments show clearly the ability of our algorithm to provide a better spread of solutions with a better convergence behavior.     

Annealing-tabu PAES: a multi-objective hybrid meta-heuristic

Most real-life optimization problems require taking into account not one, but multiple objectives simultaneously. In most cases these objectives are in conflict, i.e. the improvement of some objectives implies the deterioration of others. In single-objective optimization there exists a global optimum, while in the multi-objective case no optimal solution is clearly defined, but rather a set of solutions. In the last decade most papers dealing with multi-objective optimization use the concept of Pareto-optimality. The goal of Pareto-based multi-objective strategies is to generate a front (set) of non-dominated solutions as an approximation to the true Pareto-optimal front. However, this front is unknown for problems with large and highly complex search spaces, which is why meta-heuristic methods have become important tools for solving this kind of problem. Hybridization in the multi-objective context is nowadays an open research area. This article presents a novel extension of the well-known Pareto archived evolution strategy (PAES) which combines simulated annealing and tabu search. Experiments on several mathematical problems show that this hybridization allows an improvement in the quality of the non-dominated solutions in comparison with PAES, and also with its extension M-PAES.     

The development of a multi-objective Tabu Search algorithm for continuous optimisation problems

While there have been many adaptations of some of the more popular meta-heuristics for continuous multi-objective optimisation problems, Tabu Search has received relatively little attention, despite its suitability and effectiveness on a number of real-world design optimisation problems. In this paper we present an adaptation of a single-objective Tabu Search algorithm for multiple objectives. Further, inspired by path relinking strategies common in discrete optimisation problems, we enhance our algorithm to allow it to handle problems with large numbers of design variables. This is achieved by a novel parameter selection strategy that, unlike a full parametric analysis, avoids the use of objective function evaluations, thus keeping the overall computational cost of the procedure to a minimum. We assess the performance of our two Tabu Search variants on a range of standard test functions and compare it to a leading multi-objective Genetic Algorithm, NSGA-II. The path relinking-inspired parameter selection scheme gives a clear performance improvement over the basic multi-objective Tabu Search adaptation and both variants perform comparably with the NSGA-II.     

A hybrid generational genetic algorithm for the periodic vehicle routing problem with time windows

We propose a new population-based hybrid meta-heuristic for the periodic vehicle routing problem with time windows. This meta-heuristic is a generational genetic algorithm that uses two neighborhood-based meta-heuristics to optimize offspring. Local search methods have previously been proposed to enhance the fitness of offspring generated by crossover operators. In the proposed method, neighborhood-based meta-heuristics are used for their capacity to escape local optima, and deliver optimized and diversified solutions to the population of the next generation. Furthermore, the search performed by the neighborhood-based meta-heuristics repairs most of the constraint violations that naturally occur after the application of the crossover operators. The genetic algorithm we propose introduces two new crossover operators addressing the periodic vehicle routing problem with time windows. The two crossover operators are seeking the diversification of the exploration in the solution space from solution recombination, while simultaneously aiming not to destroy information about routes in the population as computing routes is NP-hard. Extensive numerical experiments and comparisons with all methods proposed in the literature show that the proposed methodology is highly competitive, providing new best solutions for a number of large instances.     

Utilizing expected improvement and generalized data envelopment analysis in multi-objective genetic algorithms

Meta-heuristic methods such as genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) have been extended to multi-objective optimization problems, and have been observed to be useful for finding good approximate Pareto optimal solutions. In order to improve the convergence and the diversity in the search of solutions using meta-heuristic methods, this paper suggests a new method to make offspring by utilizing the expected improvement (EI) and generalized data envelopment analysis (GDEA). In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed method will be investigated through several numerical examples in comparison with the conventional multi-objective GA and PSO methods.     

Multi-strategy ensemble evolutionary algorithm for dynamic multi-objective optimization

Dynamic optimization and multi-objective optimization have separately gained increasing attention from the research community during the last decade. However, few studies have been reported on dynamic multi-objective optimization (dMO) and scarce effective dMO methods have been proposed. In this paper, we fulfill these gabs by developing new dMO test problems and new effective dMO algorithm. In the newly designed dMO problems, Pareto-optimal decision values (i.e., Pareto-optimal solutions: POS) or both POS and Pareto-optimal objective values (i.e., Pareto-optimal front: POF) change with time. A new multi-strategy ensemble multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MS-MOEA) is proposed to tackle the challenges of dMO. In MS-MOEA, the convergence speed is accelerated by the new offspring creating mechanism powered by adaptive genetic and differential operators (GDM); a Gaussian mutation operator is employed to cope with premature convergence; a memory like strategy is proposed to achieve better starting population when a change takes place. In order to show the advantages of the proposed algorithm, we experimentally compare MS-MOEA with several algorithms equipped with traditional restart strategy. It is suggested that such a multi-strategy ensemble approach is promising for dealing with dMO problems.     

An Application of a Multi-Objective Tabu Search Algorithm to a Bicriteria Flowshop Problem

This paper proposes a new tabu search algorithm for multi-objective combinatorial problems with the goal of obtaining a good approximation of the Pareto-optimal or efficient solutions. The algorithm works with several paths of solutions in parallel, each with its own tabu list, and the Pareto dominance concept is used to select solutions from the neighborhoods. In this way we obtain at each step a set of local nondominated points. The dispersion of points is achieved by a clustering procedure that groups together close points of this set and then selects the centroids of the clusters as search directions. A nice feature of this multi-objective algorithm is that it introduces only one additional parameter, namely, the number of paths. The algorithm is applied to the permutation flowshop scheduling problem in order to minimize the criteria of makespan and maximum tardiness. For instances involving two machines, the performance of the algorithm is tested against a Branch-and-Bound algorithm proposed in the literature, and for more than two machines it is compared with that of a tabu search algorithm and a genetic local search algorithm, both from the literature. Computational results show that the heuristic yields a better approximation than these algorithms.     

Minmax robustness for multi-objective optimization problems

In real-world applications of optimization, optimal solutions are often of limited value, because disturbances of or changes to input data may diminish the quality of an optimal solution or even render it infeasible. One way to deal with uncertain input data is robust optimization, the aim of which is to find solutions which remain feasible and of good quality for all possible scenarios, i.e., realizations of the uncertain data. For single objective optimization, several definitions of robustness have been thoroughly analyzed and robust optimization methods have been developed. In this paper, we extend the concept of minmax robustness (Ben-Tal, Ghaoui, & Nemirovski, 2009) to multi-objective optimization and call this extension robust efficiency for uncertain multi-objective optimization problems. We use ingredients from robust (single objective) and (deterministic) multi-objective optimization to gain insight into the new area of robust multi-objective optimization. We analyze the new concept and discuss how robust solutions of multi-objective optimization problems may be computed. To this end, we use techniques from both robust (single objective) and (deterministic) multi-objective optimization. The new concepts are illustrated with some linear and quadratic programming instances.     

A hybrid method for solving multi-objective global optimization problems

Real optimization problems often involve not one, but multiple objectives, usually in conflict. In single-objective optimization there exists a global optimum, while in the multi-objective case no optimal solution is clearly defined but rather a set of optimums, which constitute the so called Pareto-optimal front. Thus, the goal of multi-objective strategies is to generate a set of non-dominated solutions as an approximation to this front. However, most problems of this kind cannot be solved exactly because they have very large and highly complex search spaces. The objective of this work is to compare the performance of a new hybrid method here proposed, with several well-known multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA). The main attraction of these methods is the integration of selection and diversity maintenance. Since it is very difficult to describe exactly what a good approximation is in terms of a number of criteria, the performance is quantified with adequate metrics that evaluate the proximity to the global Pareto-front. In addition, this work is also one of the few empirical studies that solves three-objective optimization problems using the concept of global Pareto-optimality.     

Vector Optimization Problems with Generalized Functional Constraints in Variable Ordering Structure Setting

This paper connects discrete optimal transport to a certain class of multi-objective optimization problems. In both settings, the decision variables can be organized into a matrix. In the multi-objective problem, the notion of Pareto efficiency is defined in terms of the objectives together with nonnegativity constraints and with equality constraints that are specified in terms of column sums. A second set of equality constraints, defined in terms of row sums, is used to single out particular points in the Pareto-efficient set which are referred to as “balanced solutions.” Examples from several fields are shown in which this solution concept appears naturally. Balanced solutions are shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with solutions of optimal transport problems. As an example of the use of alternative interpretations, the computation of solutions via regularization is discussed.     

Using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms for single-objective optimization

In recent decades, several multi-objective evolutionary algorithms have been successfully applied to a wide variety of multi-objective optimization problems. Along the way, several new concepts, paradigms and methods have emerged. Additionally, some authors have claimed that the application of multi-objective approaches might be useful even in single-objective optimization. Thus, several guidelines for solving single-objective optimization problems using multi-objective methods have been proposed. This paper offers a survey of the main methods that allow the use of multi-objective schemes for single-objective optimization. In addition, several open topics and some possible paths of future work in this area are identified.     

Meta-heuristics for dynamic lot sizing: A review and comparison of solution approaches

Proofs from complexity theory as well as computational experiments indicate that most lot sizing problems are hard to solve. Because these problems are so difficult, various solution techniques have been proposed to solve them. In the past decade, meta-heuristics such as tabu search, genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, have become popular and efficient tools for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. We review the various meta-heuristics that have been specifically developed to solve lot sizing problems, discussing their main components such as representation, evaluation, neighborhood definition and genetic operators. Further, we briefly review other solution approaches, such as dynamic programming, cutting planes, Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition, Lagrange relaxation and dedicated heuristics. This allows us to compare these techniques. Understanding their respective advantages and disadvantages gives insight into how we can integrate elements from several solution approaches into more powerful hybrid algorithms. Finally, we discuss general guidelines for computational experiments and illustrate these with several examples.     

Developing effective meta-heuristics for a probabilistic location model via experimental design

This article employs a statistical experimental design to guide and evaluate the development of four meta-heuristics applied to a probabilistic location model. The meta-heuristics evaluated include evolutionary algorithm, tabu search, simulated annealing, and a hybridized hill-climbing algorithm. Comparative results are analyzed using ANOVA. Our findings show that all four implementations produce high quality solutions. In particular, it was found that on average tabu search and simulated annealing find their best solutions in the least amount of time, with relatively small variability. This is especially important for large-size problems when dynamic redeployment is required.     

A three-phase matheuristic for capacitated multi-commodity fixed-cost network design with design-balance constraints

This paper proposes a three-phase matheuristic solution strategy for the capacitated multi-commodity fixed-cost network design problem with design-balance constraints. The proposed matheuristic combines exact and neighbourhood-based methods. Tabu search and restricted path relinking meta-heuristics cooperate to generate as many feasible solutions as possible. The two meta-heuristics incorporate new neighbourhoods, and computationally efficient exploration procedures. The feasible solutions generated by the two procedures are then used to identify an appropriate part of the solution space where an exact solver intensifies the search. Computational experiments on benchmark instances show that the proposed algorithm finds good solutions to large-scale problems in a reasonable amount of time.     

多目标优化问题的完全标量化

本文首先利用松弛变量和广义Tchebycheff范数的推广形式提出一类新的标量化优化问题.进一步,通过调整几种参数范围获得一般多目标优化问题弱有效解、有效解和真有效解的一些完全标量化刻画.此外,本文提出例子对主要结果进行说明,利用相应的标量化方法判定给定的多目标优化问题的可行解是否是弱有效解、有效解和真有效解.