Novel binary encoding differential evolution algorithm

Abstract

Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is a successful optimization method in continuous space and has been successfully applied in many different areas. The operators used in DE are simple, however, the mechanism in which the operators are defined, makes it impossible to apply the standard DE directly to the problems in binary space. A novel binary encoding DE (BDE) was proposed to extend DE for solving the optimization problems in binary space. A mixed expression, which constitutes of an arithmetical expression and a logical expression, was used to construct a new mutation operator. And then with a predefined probability, the result of the mutation operator was flipped. Initial experiment results indicate the novel BDE is useful and effective. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.