Pool-Based Genetic Programming Using Evospace, Local Search and Bloat Control

Abstract

This work presents a unique genetic programming (GP) approach that integrates a numerical local search method and a bloat-control mechanism within a distributed model for evolutionary algorithms known as EvoSpace. The first two elements provide a directed search operator and a way to control the growth of evolved models, while the latter is meant to exploit distributed and cloud-based computing architectures. EvoSpace is a Pool-based Evolutionary Algorithm, and this work is the first time that such a computing model has been used to perform a GP-based search. The proposal was extensively evaluated using real-world problems from diverse domains, and the behavior of the search was analyzed from several different perspectives. The results show that the proposed approach compares favorably with a standard approach, identifying promising aspects and limitations of this initial hybrid system.

Keywords

• Genetic Programming
• Bloat
• NEAT
• Local Search
• EvoSpace