Towards a Parameterless Out-of-the-box Population Size Control for Evolutionary and Swarm-based Algorithms for Single Objective Bound Constrained Real-Parameter Numerical Optimization

Gomes Pereira de Lacerda M., de Andrade Amorim Neto H., Ludermir T.B., Kuchen H., Buarque de Lima Neto F.

Abstract

We present an innovative step towards a parameterless out-of-the-box population size control for
evolutionary and swarm-based algorithms for single objective bound constrained real-parameter
numerical optimization. To the best of our knowledge, our approach is the first parameterless out-
of-the-box parameter control for such a kind of technique. It is easy to implement and to use, since
it does not require the adjustment of any parameter. The general idea is to increment the velocity
of the population change if the best fitness stagnates, and decrement it otherwise. Then, in order to
effectively change the population size, a mechanism of removal/addition of individuals inspired by the
selection methods of evolutionary algorithms is executed. Our experimental results provide evidence
that our controller is not only compatible with any evolutionary or swarm-based algorithm for single
objective bound constrained real-parameter numerical optimization, but that it also performs well in
many scenarios

Keywords
Population size control, Parameter control, Swarm intelligence, Evolutionary computation