Adaptive terrain-based memetic algorithms

The Terrain-Based Memetic Algorithm (TBMA) is a diffusion MA in which the local search (LS) behavior depends on the topological distribution of memetic material over a grid (terrain). In TBMA, the spreading of meme values -- such as LS step sizes -- emulates cultural differences which often arise in sparse populations. In this paper, adaptive capabilities of TBMAs are investigated by meme diffusion: individuals are allowed to move in the terrain and/or to affect their environment, by either following more effective memes or by transmitting successful meme values to nearby cells. In this regard, four TBMA versions are proposed and evaluated on three image vector quantizer design instances. The TBMAs are compared with K-Means and a Cellular MA. The results strongly indicate that utilizing dynamically adaptive meme evolution produces the best solutions using fewer fitness evaluations for this application.