Combining Crowding Estimation in Objective and Decision Space With Multiple Selection and Search Strategies for Multi-Objective Evolutionary Optimization

Many multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have been successful in approximating the Pareto Front. However, well-distributed solutions in the objective and decision spaces are still required in many real-life applications. In this paper, a novel MOEA is proposed to this problem. Distinct from other MOEAs, the proposed algorithm suggests a framework, which includes two crowding estimation methods, multiple selection methods for mating and search strategies for variation, to improve the MOEA´ s searching ability, and the diversity of its solutions. The algorithm emphasizes the importance of using the decision space and the objective space diversities. The objective space crowding and decision space crowding distances are designed using different ideas. To produce new individuals, three different types of mating selections and their respective search strategies are constructed for the main population and the two sparse populations, with the help of the two crowding measurements. Finally, based on the experimental tests on 17 unconstrained multi-objective optimization problems, the proposed algorithm is demonstrated to have better results compared to several state-of-the-art MOEAs. A detailed analysis on the effectiveness and robustness of the framework is also presented.