Investigating selection strategies in multi-objective probabilistic model based algorithms

Abstract

Recent advances on multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEAs) have acknowledged the important role played by selection, replacement, and archiving strategies in the behavior of these algorithms. However, the influence of these methods has been scarcely investigated for the particular class of MOEAs that use probabilistic modeling of the solutions. In this paper we fill this void by proposing an analysis of the role of the aforementioned strategies on an extensive set of bi-objective functions. We focus on the class of algorithms that use Gaussian univariate marginal models, and study how typical selection and replacement strategies used together with this probabilistic model impact the behavior of the search. Our analysis is particularized for a set of bi-objective functions that exhibit a representative set of characteristics (e.g. decomposable, ill-conditioned, non-linear, etc.). The experimental results shows that MOEAs that use simple probabilistic modeling outperform traditional MOEAs based on crossover operators.