Random Dynamics Optimum Tracking with Evolution Strategies

Dynamic optimization is frequently cited as a prime application area for evolutionary algorithms. In contrast to static optimization, the objective in dynamic optimization is to continuously adapt the solution to a changing environment– a task that evolutionary algorithms are believed to be good at. At the time being, however, almost all knowledge with regard to the performance of evolutionary algorithms in dynamic environments is of an empirical nature. In this paper, tools devised originally for the analysis in static environments are applied to study the performance of a popular type of recombinative evolution strategy with cumulative mutation strength adaptation on a dynamic problem. With relatively little effort, scaling laws that quite accurately describe the behavior of the strategy and that greatly contribute to its understanding are derived and their implications are discussed.