Novel performance metrics for robust multi-objective optimization algorithms

Performance metrics are essential for quantifying the performance of optimization algorithms in the field of evolutionary multi-objective optimization. Such metrics allow researchers to compare different algorithms quantitatively. In the field of robust multi-objective optimization, however, there is currently no performance metric despite its significant importance. This motivates our proposal of three novel specific metrics for measuring the convergence, coverage, and success rate of robust Pareto optimal solutions obtained by robust multi-objective algorithms. The proposed metrics are employed to quantitatively evaluate and compare Robust Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization (RMOPSO) and Robust Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (RNSGA-II) on seven selected benchmark problems. The results show that the proposed metrics are effective in quantifying the performance of robust multi-objective algorithms in terms of convergence, coverage, and the ratio of the robust/non-robust Pareto optimal solutions obtained. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.