An Evolutionary Algorithm with Clustering-Based Assisted Selection Strategy for Multimodal Multiobjective Optimization

Abstract

In multimodal multiobjective optimization problems (MMOPs), multiple Pareto optimal sets, even some good local Pareto optimal sets, should be reserved, which can provide more choices for decision-makers. To solve MMOPs, this paper proposes an evolutionary algorithm with clustering-based assisted selection strategy for multimodal multiobjective optimization, in which the addition operator and deletion operator are proposed to comprehensively consider the diversity in both decision and objective spaces. Specifically, in decision space, the union population is partitioned into multiple clusters by using a density-based clustering method, aiming to assist the addition operator to strengthen the population diversity. Then, a number of weight vectors are adopted to divide population into N subregions in objective space (N is population size). Moreover, in the deletion operator, the solutions in the most crowded subregion are first collected into previous clusters, and then the worst solution in the most crowded cluster is deleted until there are N solutions left. Our algorithm is compared with other multimodal multiobjective evolutionary algorithms on the well-known benchmark MMOPs. Numerical experiments report the effectiveness and advantages of our proposed algorithm.