Multi-Objective Optimization

How to optimize
multiple
objectives?

Build Pareto-Front
INTRODUCTION

• We often have more than one objective

• When a change in design variable can affect opposite way
of different objectives
Which one is optimum?
What’s the definition of optimum?
f 1 , f2 1/Q
$$
$$

1
4 4
Pareto-frontier

3
2
3

Design 2 1 1/Q
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INTRODUCTION cont.

• This means that design points are no longer arranged in

strict hierarchy
• There are points that are clearly poorer than others
because all objectives are worse
• In optimization jargon we call these points dominated
• Points that are not dominated are called non-dominated or
Pareto optimal

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MULTI-OBJECTIVE DESIGN STRATEGY

• Vector of objective functions

F  f1(b) f2 (b )  fm (b )

• In multi-objective optimization, objective functions are

competing each other
– We cannot improve one objective without deteriorating others

• We can combine them using weights, but often don’t know

them
f (b )  w1f1(b)  w 2f2 (b)    w m fm (b)

• Need to explore all possible combinations of competing

objectives

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MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION

• Problem formulation
Minimize F(b )
subject to hi (b)  0
g j (b)  0
bL  b  bU

• If any objectives are competing, there is no unique solution

• Non-inferior solution: an improvement in one objective
requires a degradation of another
• The set of non-inferior solutions is called Pareto front

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EXAMPLE: DOMINATION

• We have two objectives that are to be minimized. The

following are the pairs of objectives at 10 design points.
Identify the dominated ones.
(67,71), (48,72), (29,88), (-106, 294), (32,13)
(-120,163), (103,-30), (-78,114), (-80,143), (75,-171)

300

200

100

-100

-200
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150

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EXAMPLE: DOMINATION

• Work choice: Minimize time and maximize fun so that you

make $100. Will need between 33.3 to 100 items. Time can
vary from 66.7 minutes to 300. Fun can vary between 33.3
and 300.

Item (task) Pay ($) Time (min) Fun index

1 1 3 3
2 2 5 1
3 1 2 2
4 3 2 1

Task 2 is dominated by Task 4!

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MULTI-OBJECTIVE FORMULATION

• Problem formulation
Minimize time  3b1  2b3  2b4
Maximize fun  3b1  2b3  b4
subject to pay  b1  b3  3b4  100
bi  0
• Pay constraint in standard normalized form

1  (b1  b3  3b4 ) / 100  0 Item Pay Time Fun

• Common sense constraints 1 1 3 3
2 2 5 1
b1  100, b3  100, b4  33.3
3 1 2 2
4 3 2 1

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SOLUTION BY ENUMERATION

• In the range of three variables calculate time and fun for all
combinations that produce exactly $100.
• Pareto front is upper boundary and it is almost a straight
line.
• Matlab results
300

250

200
fun

150

100

50

0
50 100 150 200 250 300
time
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EXERCISE: PAY-FUN PROBLEM

• Formulate the problem of maximizing fun and pay for five

hours (300 minutes) including only non-dominated
variables.
• Obtain the Pareto front analytically or by enumeration and
writes its equation (fun as a function of pay).

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MORE EFFICIENT SOLUTION METHODS

• Methods that try to avoid generating the Pareto front

– Generate “utopia point”

– Define optimum based on some measure of distance from utopia

point

• Generating entire Pareto front

– Weighted sum of objectives with variable coefficients

– Optimize one objective for a range of constraints on the others

– Niching methods with population based algorithms

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EXAMPLE: UTOPIA POINT

• The utopia point is (66.7,300).

• One approach is to use it to form a compromise objective

time 300
Minimize 
66.7 fun 300

250
• It gives
time=168 minutes, 200

fun=160 fun 150

(b1=0, b3=76,b4=8)
100

50

0
50 100 150 200 250 300
time

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SERIES OF CONSTRAINTS

Minimize time  3b1  2b3  2b4

subject to pay  b1  b3  3b4  100
fun  3b1  2b3  b4  funk k  1,2,
bi  0

The next slides provides a Matlab segment for solving

this optimization problem using the function fmincon, but
without the requirement of integer variables.

How will you change the formulation so that a single

Matlab run will give us results for any required earning
level R?

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MATLAB SEGMENT

b0 = [10 10 10];
for fun_idx = 30:5:300
A = [-1 -1 -3; -3 -2 -1]; c = [-100;-fun_idx];
lb = zeros(3,1);
options = optimset('Display','off');
[b,fval,exitflag,output,lambda] =
fmincon('myfun’,b0,A,c,[],[],lb,[],[],options);
pareto_sol(fun_idx,:) = b;
pareto_fun(fun_idx,1) = fval;
pareto_fun(fun_idx,2) = 3*b(1) + 2*b(2) + b(3);
end

function f = myfun(b)
f = 3*b(1) + 2*b(2) + 2*b(3);
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EXERCISE: PARETO-FRONT

• Generate the Pareto front for the pay and fun maximization
using a series of constraints, and also find a compromise
point on it using the utopia point.
• What is responsible for the slope discontinuity in the Pareto
front on Slide 10?

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EXAMPLE

• Minimize time & maximize fun while you make at least $100
• Will need between 33.3 to 100 items
• Fun can vary between 33.3. Try first for 150
Item Pay ($) Time (min) Fun index
1 1 3 3
2 2 4 2
3 1 2 2
4 3 2 1

• Multi-objective optimization formulation

Minimize time  3b1  4b2  2b3  2b4
Maximize fun  3b1  2b2  2b3  b4
subject to pay  b1  2b2  b3  3b4  100
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EXAMPLE

f1=zeros(1,100000);
f2=zeros(1,100000);
k=1; 400

for i1=0:5:50 350

for i2=0:5:50
for i3=0:5:50 300

for i4=0:5:50
250
pay=i1+2*i2+i3+3*i4;

Fun Index
if pay >= 100 200
f1(k)=3*i1+4*i2+2*i3+2*i4; Increase time
150
f2(k)=3*i1+2*i2+2*i3+i4; Increase fun
k=k+1; 100
end
50
end
end 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
end Time
end
k=k-1
plot(f1(1:k),f2(1:k),'b.');
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PARETO OPTIMALITY

• Point   is a non-inferior solution if for some

*
b
neighborhood of b* there does not exist a Db such that
(b *  b )   f (b*  b )  f (b* ) i  1,, m
i i

f j (b*  b )  f j (b* ) for some j

f1
b1
Non-inferior
C solutions
Feasible f1A A
set f1B B f1B  f1A
D f2B  f2A
b2
f2A f2B f2
• Multi-objective optimization: generation and selection of
non-inferior solution points
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SOLUTION METHODS

• Methods that try to avoid generating the Pareto front

– Generate “utopia point”

– Define optimum based on some measure of distance from utopia

point

• Generating entire Pareto front

– Weighted sum of objectives with variable coefficients

– Optimize on objective for a range of constraints on the others

– Niching methods with population based algorithms

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WEIGHTED SUM METHOD

• Convert F(b) to a scalar objective function using weights

m
Minimize f (b )   w i fi (b )
i 1

• By changing wi, different Pareto optimum points can be

found
f1

A Pareto front

f2
w1f1 + w2f2 = constant Problem with non-convex front
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EPSILON-CONSTRAINT METHOD

• Optimize a primary objective fp(b), while other objectives

are considered as constraints
f1
Minimize fp (b )
subject to fi (b)   i , i  p

f1s

2 f2

• Can find non-convex front

• If e2 is too small, there is no feasible point

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GOAL ATTAINMENT METHOD

• Try to achieve the design goal f* using weighted relaxation

Minimize 
subject to fi (b)  w i   fi *

• Geometrically, starting from P = f*, find a feasible point in

the direction of w
f1 w
w = [w1, w2, …, wm] : weight

wig : slackness

f1 *
P

f2* f2
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MATLAB EXAMPLE

• Multiobjective optimization using the genetic algorithm

Minimize F(b )  [f1(b ), f2 (b )]
where f1( b )  ( b  2)2  10
f2 (b )  (b  2)2  20
1.5  b

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MATLAB EXAMPLE

function y = simple_multiobjective(b)
y(1) = (b+2)^2 - 10;
y(2) = (b-2)^2 + 20;

Fitness = @simple_multiobjective;
NV = 1; lb = -1.5; ub = 0;
options = gaoptimset('PlotFcns',{@gaplotpareto,@gaplotscorediversity});
gamultiobj(Fitness, NV,[],[],[],[],lb, ub, options);

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Elitist Non-dominated Sorting
Genetic Algorithm: NSGA-II
Multi-objective optimization problem

• Problems with more than one objective – typically

conflicting objectives
– Cars: Luxury vs. price

• Mathematical formulation
•
– where 𝐅 𝐛 𝑓 , 𝑖 1, ⋯ , 𝑀
𝐛 𝑏 , 𝑗 1, ⋯ , 𝑁

• Subject to
–𝐠 𝐛 0, 𝐠 𝑔 ,𝑘 1, ⋯ 𝑃

–𝐡 𝐛 0, 𝐡 ℎ ,𝑙 1, ⋯ 𝑄

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PARETO OPTIMAL FRONT

• Many optimal solution

• Usual approaches: weighted sum strategy, multiple-
constraints modeling
• Alternative: Multi-objective GA

Min f2
• Algorithm requirements:
– Convergence

– Spread

Min f1 243
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RANKING

• Children and parents are combined.

• Non-dominated points belong to first rank.
• The non-dominated solutions from the remainder are in
second rank, and so on.
f2

f1
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ELITISM

• Elitism: Keep the best individuals from the parent and child
population f2
Parent
Child

f1

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NICHING FOR LAST RANK

• Niching is an operator that gives preference to solutions

that are not crowded f2

• Crowding distance
c=a+b

• End points have infinite

crowding distance
• Solutions from last rank are a
selected based on niching
b

f1

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Flowchart of NSGA-II

Begin: initialize Evaluate objective Rank

population (size N) functions population

Child population created

Selection

Crossover
Report final
population and
Mutation
Stop
No
Evaluate objective
function
Stopping Elitism
criteria
Yes met? Combine parent and
Select N child populations,
individuals rank population

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Elitism process

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Problems NSGA-II

• Sort all the individuals in slide 263 into ranks, and denote
the rank on the figure in the slide next to the individual.
• Describe how the 10 individuals were selected, and check if
any individuals were selected based on crowding distance.

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Example: Bicycle frame design

• Objectives
– Minimize area

– Minimize max. deflection

• Constraints
– Components should be a
valid geometry

– Max. stress Allowable stress

𝜎 𝜎

– Max. deflection Allowable deflection

𝛿 𝛿

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Problem modeling

• Shapes are represented by binary strings, where ‘0’

represents void region and ‘1’ represents material region
• Example : A typical binary string is

01110 11111 10001 11111

Left to right representation Shape corresponding to binary string

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Material properties and GA parameters

• Material Properties
– Yield Stress 𝜎 140 MPa

– Max Deflection 𝛿 5 mm

– Young’s Modulus 𝐸 80GPa

– Poisson’s Ratio 𝜈 0.25

• GA Parameters
– Binary String Size 𝐿 14x9

– Population Size 30

– Crossover Probability 0.95

– Mutation Probability 1/L

– # of Generations 150
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Pareto optimal front

• Small increase in
weight leads to a large
drop in deflection
• Similarly small change
in deflection allows
significant reduction
of the weight

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Optimal shapes

Different conceptual designs can be found!

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Some more engineering applications

• Structural designs of mechanical components

• Design of turbo-machinery components
• Bioinformatics – protein unfolding
• VLSI circuit designs
• Packaging
• …

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Other related topic of interest

• Real-coded genetic algorithms

• Other multi-objective evolutionary algorithms
– Pareto archived evolutionary strategies (PAES)

– Strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA)

– 𝜖–multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (𝜖-MOEA)

• Hybrid GAs
• Particle swarm algorithms
• Ant colony optimization

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Constrained Particle Swarm
Optimization

Is animal
behavior
optimized?
Learn from the
social behavior of
a bird flock or fish
PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

• Mimicking social behavior of insects or birds

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CONSTRAINED PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

• Based on Venter, G. and Haftka, R.T., (2010), Structural

and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 40(1-6), 65-76.
• Lecture will cover particle swarm optimization, a good
global search algorithm for continuous problems.
• Constraints are treated using a bi-objective approach that
minimizes both the objective function and a measure of the
violation of the constraints.

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PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

• Based on a simplified social model: swarm adapts to

underlying environment by returning to promising regions
previously found
• Robust algorithm
• Global optimizer
• Easy to implement
• Parameter tuning
• High computational cost
• Unconstrained algorithm

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ALGORITHM OVERVIEW

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MOVING TOWARDS PERSONAL BEST AND GROUP BEST

xik  position of ith particle in kth step

pi  best past position of ith particle
p kg  best current position of swarm

YouTube visualization www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4A8Q2j0wA

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EXERCISE: PARTICLE SWAM OPTIMIZATION

• Minimize the Rosenbrock Banana function using PSO

starting with 30 particles distributed randomly in the region -
. Use
.

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WHAT IS BEST WHEN CONSTRAINTS ARE PRESENT?

• Constrained optimization problem

Minimize f (b )
subject to g j ( x )  0 j  1,, K

• Penalty function approach

K
f (b )  f (b )    max(0, g j (b ))
j 1

• Not easy to pick good w

• Creates canyons in design space that can trap swarm

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BI-OBJECTIVE OR FILTER APPROACH

• Replace
K
f (b )  f (b )    max(0, g j (b ))
j 1
• By

Minimize f (b )
K
Minimize h(b )   max(0, g j (b))
j 1

• Fletcher R., Leyffer, S. (2002) Nonlinear programming

without a penalty function, Math Program 91(2);239-269
• Advantage is in allowing less constrained search in design
space.
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MULTI-OBJECTIVE PSO

• The bi-objective formulation requires a multi-objective PSO

(MOPSO)
• Each iteration has multiple equally good “leaders”, non-
dominated solutions
• Based on general algorithm by Reyes-Sierra and Coello
Coello (2005)
• Create archive of non-dominated solutions
• Select leader for each particle based on a binary
tournament
• Makes use of the crowding distance to maintain and select
leaders
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CROWDING DISTANCE

• First sort non-dominated points by objective function

values.
• Crowding distance of point i is the distance between two
nearest neighbors (i-1, to i+1)

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EXAMPLE: MOPSO

• MOPSO with two objective functions

f1(b )  b 2 f2 (b )  (b  2)2 b   100,100

With this large range

of b, how come the
two objectives have
such small values?

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EXERCISE: CROWDING DISTANCE

• Generate 100 random b values in [0,2] and the

corresponding values of f1(b) and f2(b) of the functions on
the previous slide. Choose a point with the maximum
crowding distance, then the next point with the maximum
crowding distance, and so on until you reach 20 points. Plot
the resulting Pareto front. Why is it the Pareto front?

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CONSTRAINT SPECIALIZED BI-OBJECTIVE PSO

• We are not interested in complete Pareto front, but mostly

in part that has low constraint violations.
• Bias algorithm to such points
– Select leaders based on both constraint violation and crowding
distance

– Binary tournament based on

constraint violation

• Goal is to place more particles

near feasible domain

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EXAMPLE

• Composite laminate design (q1/q2/q3)s, with three angles

and three thicknesses as design variables.
– Maximize the transverse in-plane stiffness A22

– Constraints on ply angles and effective Poisson’s ratio

• Methods compared
– Standard PSO with penalty function

– MOPSO algorithm of Reyes-Sierra and Coello-Coello

– Modified MOPSO algorithm

• 100 runs, each with 30 particles and 100 generations.

• 10% probability of mutation, w = 0.5, c1 = 1.75, c2 = 2.25
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OPTIMIZATION FORMULATION

• See relation between stiffness and Poisson’s ratio and

design variables in the paper.

Maximize A22
subject to 0.48   eff  0.52
5o   k  5o or
40o   k  50o or
85o   k  95o
0.001  t k  0.05"

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RESULTS: PENALTY FUNCTION

• 108 is the best penalty multiplier

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RESULTS: BI-OBJECTIVE FORMULATION

• Without focus of the Pareto front on the near feasible

designs, there are many wasted evaluations on deeply
infeasible designs.

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