An orthogonal genetic algorithm with quantization for global numerical optimization

We design a genetic algorithm called the orthogonal genetic algorithm with quantization for global numerical optimization with continuous variables. Our objective is to apply methods of experimental design to enhance the genetic algorithm, so that the resulting algorithm can be more robust and statistically sound. A quantization technique is proposed to complement an experimental design method called orthogonal design. We apply the resulting methodology to generate an initial population of points that are scattered uniformly over the feasible solution space, so that the algorithm can evenly scan the feasible solution space once to locate good points for further exploration in subsequent iterations. In addition, we apply the quantization technique and orthogonal design to tailor a new crossover operator, such that this crossover operator can generate a small, but representative sample of points as the potential offspring. We execute the proposed algorithm to solve 15 benchmark problems with 30 or 100 dimensions and very large numbers of local minima. The results show that the proposed algorithm can find optimal or close-to-optimal solutions.