This paper presents new encoding methods for the binary genetic algorithm (BGA) and new converting methods for the real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA). These methods are developed for the specific case in which some parameters have to be searched in wide ranges since their actual values are not known. The oversampling effect which occurs at large values in the wide range search are reduced by adjustment of resolutions in mantissa and exponent of real numbers mapped by BGA. Owing to an intrinsic similarity in chromosomal operations, the proposed encoding methods are also applied to RCGA with remapping (converting as named above) from real numbers generated in RCGA. A simple probabilistic analysis and benchmark with two ill-scaled test functions are carried out. System identification of a simple electrical circuit is also undertaken to testify effectiveness of the proposed methods to real world problems. All the optimization results show that the proposed encoding/converting methods are more suitable for problems with ill-scaled parameters or wide parameter ranges for searching.

This paper proposes a new computational optimization method modified from the dynamic encoding algorithm for searches (DEAS). Despite the successful optimization performance of DEAS for both benchmark functions and parameter identification, the problem of exponential computation time becomes serious as problem dimension increases. The proposed optimization method named univariate DEAS (uDEAS) is especially implemented to reduce the computation time using a univariate local search scheme. To verify the algorithmic feasibility for global optimization, several test functions are optimized as benchmark. Despite the simpler structure and shorter code length, function optimization performance show that uDEAS is capable of fast and reliable global search for even high dimensional problems.

The dynamic encoding algorithm for searches (DEAS) is a recently developed algorithm that comprises a series of global optimization methods based on variable-length binary strings that represent real variables. It has been successfully applied to various optimization problems, exhibiting outstanding search efficiency and accuracy. Because DEAS manages binary strings or matrices, the decoding rules applied to the binary strings and the algorithm's structure determine the aspects of local search. The decoding rules used thus far in DEAS have some drawbacks in terms of efficiency and mathematical analysis. This paper proposes a new decoding rule and applies it to univariate DEAS (uDEAS), validating its performance against several benchmark functions. The overall optimization results of the modified uDEAS indicate that it outperforms other metaheuristic methods and obviously improves upon older versions of DEAS series.

In this paper, we present a recently developed pattern search method called Genetic Pattern Search algorithm (GPSA) for the global optimization of cost function subject to simple bounds. GPSA is a combined global optimization method using genetic algorithm (GA) and Digital Pattern Search (DPS) method, which has the digital structure represented by binary strings and guarantees convergence to stationary points from arbitrary starting points. The performance of GPSA is validated through extensive numerical experiments on a number of well known functions and on robot walking application. The optimization results confirm that GPSA is a robust and efficient global optimization method.