Towards automatic domain knowledge extraction for evolutionary heuristics

Abstract

Domain knowledge is essential for successful problem solving and optimization. This paper introduces a framework in which a form of automatic domain knowledge extraction can be implemented using concepts from the field of machine learning. The result is an encoding of the type used in most evolutionary computation (EC) algorithms. The approach focuses on whole problem domains instead of single problems. After the theoretical validation of the algorithm the main idea is given impetus by showing that on different subdomains of linear functions the method finds different encodings which result in different problem complexities.