A Hierarchical Gene-Set Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

In this paper, gene sets, instead of individual genes, are used in the genetic process to speed up convergence. A gene-set mutation operator is proposed, which can make several neighboring genes to simultaneously mutate. A gene-set crossover operator is also designed to choose the crossover points at the boundary of gene sets. The proposed gene-set mutation and crossover operators will cause a larger diversity than the conventional ones. A hierarchical gene-set genetic algorithm is then proposed, which uses adjustable gene-set lengths to find final solutions. Different phases of populations use different gene-set lengths to perform the genetic operations. The gene-set length is shortened in half in each phase until the length is 1. Experiments on three problems are also made to show the effectiveness of the proposed gene-set genetic algorithm.