0000000000040341
AUTHOR
Tinkle Chugh
Treed Gaussian Process Regression for Solving Offline Data-Driven Continuous Multiobjective Optimization Problems
Abstract For offline data-driven multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs), no new data is available during the optimization process. Approximation models (or surrogates) are first built using the provided offline data and an optimizer, e.g. a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm, can then be utilized to find Pareto optimal solutions to the problem with surrogates as objective functions. In contrast to online data-driven MOPs, these surrogates cannot be updated with new data and, hence, the approximation accuracy cannot be improved by considering new data during the optimization process. Gaussian process regression (GPR) models are widely used as surrogates because of their ability to pr…
An Interactive Framework for Offline Data-Driven Multiobjective Optimization
We propose a framework for solving offline data-driven multiobjective optimization problems in an interactive manner. No new data becomes available when solving offline problems. We fit surrogate models to the data to enable optimization, which introduces uncertainty. The framework incorporates preference information from a decision maker in two aspects to direct the solution process. Firstly, the decision maker can guide the optimization by providing preferences for objectives. Secondly, the framework features a novel technique for the decision maker to also express preferences related to maximum acceptable uncertainty in the solutions as preferred ranges of uncertainty. In this way, the d…
A data-driven surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm applied to a many-objective blast furnace optimization problem
A new data-driven reference vector-guided evolutionary algorithm has been successfully implemented to construct surrogate models for various objectives pertinent to an industrial blast furnace. A total of eight objectives have been modeled using the operational data of the furnace using 12 process variables identified through a principal component analysis and optimized simultaneously. The capability of this algorithm to handle a large number of objectives, which has been lacking earlier, results in a more efficient setting of the operational parameters of the furnace, leading to a precisely optimized hot metal production process. peerReviewed
A Visualizable Test Problem Generator for Many-Objective Optimization
Visualizing the search behavior of a series of points or populations in their native domain is critical in understanding biases and attractors in an optimization process. Distancebased many-objective optimization test problems have been developed to facilitate visualization of search behavior in a two-dimensional design space with arbitrarily many objective functions. Previous works have proposed a few commonly seen problem characteristics into this problem framework, such as the definition of disconnected Pareto sets and dominance resistant regions of the design space. The authors’ previous work has advanced this research further by providing a problem generator to automatically create use…
A Feature Rich Distance-Based Many-Objective Visualisable Test Problem Generator
In optimiser analysis and design it is informative to visualise how a search point/population moves through the design space over time. Visualisable distance-based many-objective optimisation problems have been developed whose design space is in two-dimensions with arbitrarily many objective dimensions. Previous work has shown how disconnected Pareto sets may be formed, how problems can be projected to and from arbitrarily many design dimensions, and how dominance resistant regions of design space may be defined. Most recently, a test suite has been proposed using distances to lines rather than points. However, active use of visualisable problems has been limited. This may be because the ty…
On Constraint Handling in Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Many-Objective Optimization
Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithms are often used to solve computationally expensive problems. But their efficacy on handling constrained optimization problems having more than three objectives has not been widely studied. Particularly the issue of how feasible and infeasible solutions are handled in generating a data set for training a surrogate has not received much attention. In this paper, we use a recently proposed Kriging-assisted evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization and investigate the effect of infeasible solutions on the performance of the surrogates. We assume that constraint functions are computationally inexpensive and consid…
Surrogate-assisted evolutionary biobjective optimization for objectives with non-uniform latencies
We consider multiobjective optimization problems where objective functions have different (or heterogeneous) evaluation times or latencies. This is of great relevance for (computationally) expensive multiobjective optimization as there is no reason to assume that all objective functions should take an equal amount of time to be evaluated (particularly when objectives are evaluated separately). To cope with such problems, we propose a variation of the Kriging-assisted reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (K-RVEA) called heterogeneous K-RVEA (short HK-RVEA). This algorithm is a merger of two main concepts designed to account for different latencies: A single-objective evolutionary a…
A survey on handling computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems with evolutionary algorithms
Evolutionary algorithms are widely used for solving multiobjective optimization problems but are often criticized because of a large number of function evaluations needed. Approximations, especially function approximations, also referred to as surrogates or metamodels are commonly used in the literature to reduce the computation time. This paper presents a survey of 45 different recent algorithms proposed in the literature between 2008 and 2016 to handle computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems. Several algorithms are discussed based on what kind of an approximation such as problem, function or fitness approximation they use. Most emphasis is given to function approxim…
Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective shape optimization of an air intake ventilation system
We tackle three different challenges in solving a real-world industrial problem: formulating the optimization problem, connecting different simulation tools and dealing with computationally expensive objective functions. The problem to be optimized is an air intake ventilation system of a tractor and consists of three computationally expensive objective functions. We describe the modeling of the system and its numerical evaluation with a commercial software. To obtain solutions in few function evaluations, a recently proposed surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm K-RVEA is applied. The diameters of four different outlets of the ventilation system are considered as decision variables. Fr…
On Constraint Handling in Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Many-Objective Optimization
Surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithms are often used to solve computationally expensive problems. But their efficacy on handling constrained optimization problems having more than three objectives has not been widely studied. Particularly the issue of how feasible and infeasible solutions are handled in generating a data set for training a surrogate has not received much attention. In this paper, we use a recently proposed Kriging-assisted evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization and investigate the effect of infeasible solutions on the performance of the surrogates. We assume that constraint functions are computationally inexpensive and consid…
Probabilistic Selection Approaches in Decomposition-based Evolutionary Algorithms for Offline Data-Driven Multiobjective Optimization
In offline data-driven multiobjective optimization, no new data is available during the optimization process. Approximation models, also known as surrogates, are built using the provided offline data. A multiobjective evolutionary algorithm can be utilized to find solutions by using these surrogates. The accuracy of the approximated solutions depends on the surrogates and approximations typically involve uncertainties. In this paper, we propose probabilistic selection approaches that utilize the uncertainty information of the Kriging models (as surrogates) to improve the solution process in offline data-driven multiobjective optimization. These approaches are designed for decomposition-base…
A Multiple Surrogate Assisted Decomposition Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Expensive Multi/Many-Objective Optimization
Many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) contain four or more conflicting objectives to be optimized. A number of efficient decomposition-based evolutionary algorithms have been developed in the recent years to solve them. However, computationally expensive MaOPs have been scarcely investigated. Typically, surrogate-assisted methods have been used in the literature to tackle computationally expensive problems, but such studies have largely focused on problems with 1–3 objectives. In this paper, we present an approach called hybrid surrogate-assisted many-objective evolutionary algorithm to solve computationally expensive MaOPs. The key features of the approach include: 1) the use of mul…
A Surrogate-assisted Reference Vector Guided Evolutionary Algorithm for Computationally Expensive Many-objective Optimization
We propose a surrogate-assisted reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm for computationally expensive optimization problems with more than three objectives. The proposed algorithm is based on a recently developed evolutionary algorithm for many-objective optimization that relies on a set of adaptive reference vectors for selection. The proposed surrogateassisted evolutionary algorithm uses Kriging to approximate each objective function to reduce the computational cost. In managing the Kriging models, the algorithm focuses on the balance of diversity and convergence by making use of the uncertainty information in the approximated objective values given by the Kriging models, the distr…
Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Optimization of Large Problems
This chapter presents some recent advances in surrogate-assisted evolutionary optimization of large problems. By large problems, we mean either the number of decision variables is large, or the number of objectives is large, or both. These problems pose challenges to evolutionary algorithms themselves, constructing surrogates and surrogate management. To address these challenges, we proposed two algorithms, one called kriging-assisted reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (K-RVEA) for many-objective optimization, and the other called cooperative swarm optimization algorithm (SA-COSO) for high-dimensional single-objective optimization. Empirical studies demonstrate that K-RVEA works…
Handling expensive multiobjective optimization problems with evolutionary algorithms
Multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs) with a large number of conflicting objectives are often encountered in industry. Moreover, these problem typically involve expensive evaluations (e.g. time consuming simulations or costly experiments), which pose an extra challenge in solving them. In this thesis, we first present a survey of different methods proposed in the literature to handle MOPs with expensive evaluations. We observed that most of the existing methods cannot be easily applied to problems with more than three objectives. Therefore, we propose a Kriging-assisted reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (K-RVEA) for problems with at least three expensive objectives. The alg…
Towards Better Integration of Surrogate Models and Optimizers
Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Algorithms (SAEAs) have been proven to be very effective in solving (synthetic and real-world) computationally expensive optimization problems with a limited number of function evaluations. The two main components of SAEAs are: the surrogate model and the evolutionary optimizer, both of which use parameters to control their respective behavior. These parameters are likely to interact closely, and hence the exploitation of any such relationships may lead to the design of an enhanced SAEA. In this chapter, as a first step, we focus on Kriging and the Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) framework. We discuss potentially profitable ways of a better integration of…
Connections of reference vectors and different types of preference information in interactive multiobjective evolutionary algorithms
We study how different types of preference information coming from a human decision maker can be utilized in an interactive multiobjective evolutionary optimization algorithm (MOEA). The idea is to convert different types of preference information into a unified format which can then be utilized in an interactive MOEA to guide the search towards the most preferred solution(s). The format chosen here is a set of reference vectors which is used within the interactive version of the reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (RVEA). The proposed interactive RVEA is then applied to the multiple-disk clutch brake design problem with five objectives to demonstrate the potential of the idea in…
An Interactive Simple Indicator-Based Evolutionary Algorithm (I-SIBEA) for Multiobjective Optimization Problems
This paper presents a new preference based interactive evolutionary algorithm (I-SIBEA) for solving multiobjective optimization problems using weighted hypervolume. Here the decision maker iteratively provides her/his preference information in the form of identifying preferred and/or non-preferred solutions from a set of nondominated solutions. This preference information provided by the decision maker is used to assign weights of the weighted hypervolume calculation to solutions in subsequent generations. In any generation, the weighted hypervolume is calculated and solutions are selected to the next generation based on their contribution to the weighted hypervolume. The algorithm is compa…
A Multiple Surrogate Assisted Decomposition-Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Expensive Multi/Many-Objective Optimization
Many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) contain four or more conflicting objectives to be optimized. A number of efficient decomposition-based evolutionary algorithms have been developed in the recent years to solve them. However, computationally expensive MaOPs have been scarcely investigated. Typically, surrogate-assisted methods have been used in the literature to tackle computationally expensive problems, but such studies have largely focused on problems with 1–3 objectives. In this paper, we present an approach called hybrid surrogate-assisted many-objective evolutionary algorithm to solve computationally expensive MaOPs. The key features of the approach include: 1) the use of mul…
On Dealing with Uncertainties from Kriging Models in Offline Data-Driven Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization
Many works on surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization have been devoted to problems where function evaluations are time-consuming (e.g., based on simulations). In many real-life optimization problems, mathematical or simulation models are not always available and, instead, we only have data from experiments, measurements or sensors. In such cases, optimization is to be performed on surrogate models built on the data available. The main challenge there is to fit an accurate surrogate model and to obtain meaningful solutions. We apply Kriging as a surrogate model and utilize corresponding uncertainty information in different ways during the optimization process. We discuss…
Multiobjective shape design in a ventilation system with a preference-driven surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm
We formulate and solve a real-world shape design optimization problem of an air intake ventilation system in a tractor cabin by using a preference-based surrogate-assisted evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm. We are motivated by practical applicability and focus on two main challenges faced by practitioners in industry: 1) meaningful formulation of the optimization problem reflecting the needs of a decision maker and 2) finding a desirable solution based on a decision maker’s preferences when solving a problem with computationally expensive function evaluations. For the first challenge, we describe the procedure of modelling a component in the air intake ventilation system wi…
Data-Driven Evolutionary Optimization: An Overview and Case Studies
Most evolutionary optimization algorithms assume that the evaluation of the objective and constraint functions is straightforward. In solving many real-world optimization problems, however, such objective functions may not exist, instead computationally expensive numerical simulations or costly physical experiments must be performed for fitness evaluations. In more extreme cases, only historical data are available for performing optimization and no new data can be generated during optimization. Solving evolutionary optimization problems driven by data collected in simulations, physical experiments, production processes, or daily life are termed data-driven evolutionary optimization. In this…