Minimum Manhattan Distance Approach to Multiple Criteria Decision Making in Multiobjective Optimization Problems

Abstract

A minimum Manhattan distance (MMD) approach to multiple criteria decision making in multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs) is proposed. The approach selects the final solution corresponding with a vector that has the MMD from a normalized ideal vector. This procedure is equivalent to the knee selection described by a divide and conquer approach that involves iterations of pairwise comparisons. Being able to systematically assign weighting coefficients to multiple criteria, the MMD approach is equivalent to a weighted-sum (WS) approach. Because of the equivalence, the MMD approach possesses rich geometric interpretations that are considered essential in the field of evolutionary computation. The MMD approach is elegant because all evaluations can be performed by efficient matrix calculations without iterations of comparisons. While the WS approach may encounter an indeterminate situation in which a few solutions yield almost the same WS, the MMD approach is able to determine the final solution discriminately. Since existing multiobjective evolutionary algorithms aim for a posteriori decision making, i.e., determining the final solution after a set of Pareto optimal solutions is available, the proposed MMD approach can be combined with them to form a powerful solution method of solving MOPs. Furthermore, the approach enables scalable definitions of the knee and knee solutions.