{"title":"Metaheuristics for variable-size mixed optimization problems: A unified taxonomy and survey","authors":"El-Ghazali Talbi","doi":"10.1016/j.swevo.2024.101642","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Many real world optimization problems are formulated as mixed-variable optimization problems (MVOPs) which involve both continuous and discrete variables. MVOPs including dimensional variables are characterized by a variable-size search space. Depending on the values of dimensional variables, the number and type of the variables of the problem can vary dynamically. MVOPs and variable-size MVOPs (VMVOPs) are difficult to solve and raise a number of scientific challenges in the design of metaheuristics. Standard metaheuristics have been first designed to address continuous or discrete optimization problems, and are not able to tackle VMVOPs in an efficient way. The development of metaheuristics for solving such problems has attracted the attention of many researchers and is increasingly popular. However, to our knowledge there is no well established taxonomy or comprehensive survey for handling this important family of optimization problems. This paper presents an unified taxonomy for metaheuristic solutions for solving VMVOPs in an attempt to provide a common terminology and classification mechanisms. It provides a general mathematical formulation and concepts of VMVOPs, and identifies the various solving methodologies than can be applied in metaheuristics. The advantages, the weaknesses and the limitations of the presented methodologies are discussed. The proposed taxonomy also allows to identify some open research issues which needs further in-depth investigations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48682,"journal":{"name":"Swarm and Evolutionary Computation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Swarm and Evolutionary Computation","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210650224001809","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Many real world optimization problems are formulated as mixed-variable optimization problems (MVOPs) which involve both continuous and discrete variables. MVOPs including dimensional variables are characterized by a variable-size search space. Depending on the values of dimensional variables, the number and type of the variables of the problem can vary dynamically. MVOPs and variable-size MVOPs (VMVOPs) are difficult to solve and raise a number of scientific challenges in the design of metaheuristics. Standard metaheuristics have been first designed to address continuous or discrete optimization problems, and are not able to tackle VMVOPs in an efficient way. The development of metaheuristics for solving such problems has attracted the attention of many researchers and is increasingly popular. However, to our knowledge there is no well established taxonomy or comprehensive survey for handling this important family of optimization problems. This paper presents an unified taxonomy for metaheuristic solutions for solving VMVOPs in an attempt to provide a common terminology and classification mechanisms. It provides a general mathematical formulation and concepts of VMVOPs, and identifies the various solving methodologies than can be applied in metaheuristics. The advantages, the weaknesses and the limitations of the presented methodologies are discussed. The proposed taxonomy also allows to identify some open research issues which needs further in-depth investigations.
期刊介绍:
Swarm and Evolutionary Computation is a pioneering peer-reviewed journal focused on the latest research and advancements in nature-inspired intelligent computation using swarm and evolutionary algorithms. It covers theoretical, experimental, and practical aspects of these paradigms and their hybrids, promoting interdisciplinary research. The journal prioritizes the publication of high-quality, original articles that push the boundaries of evolutionary computation and swarm intelligence. Additionally, it welcomes survey papers on current topics and novel applications. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Genetic Algorithms, and Genetic Programming, Evolution Strategies, and Evolutionary Programming, Differential Evolution, Artificial Immune Systems, Particle Swarms, Ant Colony, Bacterial Foraging, Artificial Bees, Fireflies Algorithm, Harmony Search, Artificial Life, Digital Organisms, Estimation of Distribution Algorithms, Stochastic Diffusion Search, Quantum Computing, Nano Computing, Membrane Computing, Human-centric Computing, Hybridization of Algorithms, Memetic Computing, Autonomic Computing, Self-organizing systems, Combinatorial, Discrete, Binary, Constrained, Multi-objective, Multi-modal, Dynamic, and Large-scale Optimization.