Matthew Hughes Undergraduate Dissertation 2015/16

Investigating the effects Diversity Mechanisms have on Evolutionary Algorithms in Dynamic Environments

Supervised by D.Sudholt

Abstract

Evolutionary algorithms have been successfully applied to a variety of optimisation  problems  in stationary environments. However, many real world optimisation  problems are set in dynamic environments where the success criteria shifts regularly.  Population diversity affects algorithmic performance, particularly on multiobjective  and dynamic problems. Diversity  mechanisms are methods of altering evolutionary algorithms in a way that promoted the maintenance of population diversity. This project intends to measure and compare the performance effect a variety of diversity mechanisms have on an evolutionary algorithm when facing an assortment of dynamic problems.