A hybridized angle-encouragement-based decomposition approach for many-objective optimization problems

Abstract Due to the large objective space when handling many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs), it is a challenging work for multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) to balance convergence and diversity during the search process. Although a number of decomposition-based MOEAs have been designed for the above purpose, some difficulties are still encountered for tackling some difficult MaOPs. As inspired by the existing decomposition approaches, a new Hybridized Angle-Encouragement-based (HAE) decomposition approach is proposed in this paper, which is embedded into a general framework of decomposition-based MOEAs, called MOEA/D-HAE. Two classes of decomposition approaches, i.e., the angle-based decomposition and the proposed encouragement-based boundary intersection decomposition, are sequentially used in HAE. The first one selects appropriate solutions for association in the feasible region of each subproblem, which is expected to well maintain the diversity of associated solutions. The second one acts as a supplement for the angle-based one under the case that no solution is located in the feasible region of subproblem, which aims to ensure the convergence and explore the boundaries. By this way, HAE can effectively combine their advantages, which helps to appropriately balance convergence and diversity in evolutionary search. To study the effectiveness of HAE, two series of well-known test MaOPs (WFG and DTLZ) are used. The experimental results validate the advantages of HAE when compared to other classic decomposition approaches and also confirm the superiority of MOEA/D-HAE over seven recently proposed many-objective evolutionary algorithms.