Tuning Tabu Search strategies via visual diagnosis

• Main Authors: HALIM, Steven, LAU, Hoong Chuin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: Metaheuristics; Software Framework; Tuning Problem; Visualization; Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/238; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/1237/viewcontent/TuningTabuSearch_Metaheur_2007.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

While designing working metaheuristics can be straightforward, tuning them to solve the underlying combinatorial optimization problem well can be tricky. Several tuning methods have been proposed but they do not address the new aspect of our proposed classification of the metaheuristic tuning problem: tuning search strategies. We propose a tuning methodology based on Visual Diagnosis and a generic tool called Visualizer for Metaheuristics Development Framework(V-MDF) to address specifically the problem of tuning search (particularly Tabu Search) strategies. Under V-MDF, we propose the use of a Distance Radar visualizer where the human and computer can collaborate to diagnose the occurrence of negative incidents along the search trajectory on a set of training instances, and to perform remedial actions on the fly. Through capturing and observing the outcomes of actions in a Rule-Base, the user can then decide how to tune the search strategy effectively for subsequent use.