A genetic algorithm with gene dependent mutation probability for non-stationary optimization problems

Genetic algorithms (GAs) with gene dependent mutation probability applied to non-stationary optimization problems are investigated in this paper. In the problems studied here, the fitness function changes during the search carried out by the GA. In the GA investigated, each gene is associated with an independent mutation probability. The knowledge obtained during the evolution is utilized to update the mutation probabilities. If the modification of a set of genes is useful when the problem changes, the mutation probabilities of these genes are increased. In this way, the search in the solution space is concentrated into regions associated with the genes with higher mutation probabilities. The class of non-stationary problems where this GA can be interesting and its limitations are investigated.