An immune multi-objective optimization algorithm with differential evolution inspired recombination

• A DE inspired recombination operator is developed for continuous MOPs.
• The proposed operator performs two complementary searching behaviors.
• The proposed operator can be integrated with any MOEAs.

According to the regularity of continuous multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs), an immune multi-objective optimization algorithm with differential evolution inspired recombination (IMADE) is proposed in this paper. In the proposed IMADE, the novel recombination provides two types of candidate searching directions by taking three recombination parents which distribute along the current Pareto set (PS) within a local area. One of the searching direction provides guidance for finding new points along the current PS, and the other redirects the search away from the current PS and moves towards the target PS. Under the background of the SBX (Simulated binary crossover) recombination which performs local search combined with random search near the recombination parents, the new recombination operator utilizes the regularity of continuous MOPs and the distributions of current population, which helps IMADE maintain a more uniformly distributed PF and converge much faster. Experimental results have demonstrated that IMADE outperforms or performs similarly to NSGAII, NNIA, PESAII and OWMOSaDE in terms of solution quality on most of the ten testing MOPs. IMADE converges faster than NSGAII and OWMOSaDE. The efficiency of the proposed DE recombination and the contributions of DE and SBX recombination to IMADE have also been experimentally investigated in this work.

This figure illustrates the two searching strategies of the proposed differential evolution inspired recombination operator: move towards the target Pareto set to improve the approximation and search along the current Pareto set to enhance the diversity. Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide