Self-adaptive parameters in genetic algorithms

Genetic algorithms are powerful search algorithms that can be applied to a wide range of problems. Generally, parameter setting is accomplished prior to running a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and this setting remains unchanged during execution. The problem of interest to us here is the self-adaptive parameters adjustment of a GA. In this research, we propose an approach in which the control of a genetic algorithm’s parameters can be encoded within the chromosome of each individual. The parameters’ values are entirely dependent on the evolution mechanism and on the problem context. Our preliminary results show that a GA is able to learn and evaluate the quality of self-set parameters according to their degree of contribution to the resolution of the problem. These results are indicative of a promising approach to the development of GAs with self-adaptive parameter settings that do not require the user to pre-adjust parameters at the outset.