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A hyper-heuristic algorithm is a general solution framework that adaptively selects the optimizer to address complex problems. A classical hyper-heuristic framework consists of two levels, including the high-level heuristic and a set of low-level heuristics. The low-level heuristics to be used in the optimization process are chosen by the high-level tactics in the hyper-heuristic. In this study, a Cooperative Multi-Stage Hyper-Heuristic (CMS-HH) algorithm is proposed to address certain combinatorial optimization problems. In the CMS-HH, a genetic algorithm is introduced to perturb the initial solution to increase the diversity of the solution. In the search phase, an online learning mechanism based on the multi-armed bandits and relay hybridization technology are proposed to improve the quality of the solution. In addition, a multi-point search is introduced to cooperatively search with a single-point search when the state of the solution does not change in continuous time. The performance of the CMS-HH algorithm is assessed in six specific combinatorial optimization problems, including Boolean satisfiability problems, one-dimensional packing problems, permutation flow-shop scheduling problems, personnel scheduling problems, traveling salesman problems, and vehicle routing problems. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and significance of the proposed CMS-HH algorithm.


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A Novel Cooperative Multi-Stage Hyper-Heuristic for Combination Optimization Problems

Show Author's information Fuqing Zhao( )Shilu DiJie CaoJianxin Tang Jonrinaldi
School of Computer and Communication, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
Department of Industrial Engineering, Universitas Andalas, Padang 25163, Indonesia

Abstract

A hyper-heuristic algorithm is a general solution framework that adaptively selects the optimizer to address complex problems. A classical hyper-heuristic framework consists of two levels, including the high-level heuristic and a set of low-level heuristics. The low-level heuristics to be used in the optimization process are chosen by the high-level tactics in the hyper-heuristic. In this study, a Cooperative Multi-Stage Hyper-Heuristic (CMS-HH) algorithm is proposed to address certain combinatorial optimization problems. In the CMS-HH, a genetic algorithm is introduced to perturb the initial solution to increase the diversity of the solution. In the search phase, an online learning mechanism based on the multi-armed bandits and relay hybridization technology are proposed to improve the quality of the solution. In addition, a multi-point search is introduced to cooperatively search with a single-point search when the state of the solution does not change in continuous time. The performance of the CMS-HH algorithm is assessed in six specific combinatorial optimization problems, including Boolean satisfiability problems, one-dimensional packing problems, permutation flow-shop scheduling problems, personnel scheduling problems, traveling salesman problems, and vehicle routing problems. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and significance of the proposed CMS-HH algorithm.

Keywords: hyper-heuristic algorithm, Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB), relay hybridization technology, combinatorial optimization

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 26 March 2021
Revised: 29 April 2021
Accepted: 11 May 2021
Published: 30 June 2021
Issue date: June 2021

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© The author(s) 2021

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan (No. 2020YFB1713600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62063021), the Lanzhou Science Bureau Project (No. 2018-rc-98), Public Welfare Project of Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation (No. LGJ19E050001), and Project of Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation (No. LQ20F020011).

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