MSOPS-II: A general-purpose Many-Objective optimiser

Abstract

Existing evolutionary methods capable of true many-objective optimisation have been limited in their application: for example either initial search directions need to be specified a-priori, or the use of hypervolume limits the search in practice to less than 10 objective dimensions. This paper describes two extensions to the multiple single objective pareto sampling (MSOPS) algorithm. The first provides automatic target vector generation, removing the requirement for initial a-priori designer intervention; and secondly redefines the fitness assignment method to simplify analysis and allow more comprehensive constraint handling. The significant enhancements allow the new MSOPS-II ranking process to be used as part of a general-purpose multi/many objective optimisation algorithm, requiring minimal initial configuration.