On finding well-spread pareto optimal solutions by preference-inspired co-evolutionary algorithm

Preference-inspired co-evolutionary algorithm (PICEA) is a novel class of multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. In PICEA, the usual candidate solutions are guided toward the Pareto optimal front by co-evolving a set of decision maker preferences during the search process. PICEA-g is one realization of PICEAs in which goal vectors are taken as preferences. This study points out one limitation of this method -the obtained solutions are distributed unevenly along the Pareto optimal front. To handle this limitation, an improved fitness assignment method is proposed in which the density information of the solutions is considered. Experimental results, in terms of the selected performance metrics, show this improved fitness assignment method is effective.