A Parallel Computing Software Architecture for the Bilevel Parameter Tuning of Optimization Algorithms

• Most optimization algorithms extract important algorithmic design decisions as control parameters. This is necessary because different problems can require different search strategies to be solved effectively. The control parameters allow for the optimization algorithm to be adapted to the problem at hand. It is however difficult to predict what the optimal control parameters are for any given problem. Finding these optimal control parameter values is referred to as the parameter tuning problem. One approach of solving the parameter tuning problem is to use a bilevel optimization where the parameter tuning problem itself is formulated as an optimization problem involving algorithmic performance as the objective(s). In this paper, we present a framework and architecture that can be used to solve large-scale parameter tuning problems using a bilevel optimization approach. The proposed framework is used to show that evolutionary algorithms are competitive as tuners against irace which is a state-of-the-art tuning method. Two evolutionary algorithms, differential evaluation (DE) and a genetic algorithm (GA) are evaluated as tuner algorithms using the proposed framework and software architecture. The importance of replicating optimizations and avoiding local optima is also investigated. The architecture is deployed and tested by running millions of optimizations using a computing cluster. The results indicate that the evolutionary algorithms can consistently find better control parameter values than irace. The GA, however, needs to be configured for an explicit exploration and exploitation strategy in order avoid local optima.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Production and Automation Engineering

Produktion och automatiseringsteknik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)