Recent Meta-Black-Box Optimization (MetaBBO) approaches have shown possibility of enhancing the optimization performance through learning meta-level policies to dynamically configure low-level optimizers. However, existing MetaBBO approaches potentially consume massive function evaluations to train their meta-level policies. Inspired by the recent trend of using surrogate models for cost-friendly evaluation of expensive optimization problems, in this paper, we propose a novel MetaBBO framework which combines surrogate learning process and reinforcement learning-aided Differential Evolution algorithm, namely Surr-RLDE, to address the intensive function evaluation in MetaBBO. Surr-RLDE comprises two learning stages: surrogate learning and policy learning. In surrogate learning, we train a Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KAN) with a novel relative-order-aware loss to accurately approximate the objective functions of the problem instances used for subsequent policy learning. In policy learning, we employ reinforcement learning (RL) to dynamically configure the mutation operator in DE. The learned surrogate model is integrated into the training of the RL-based policy to substitute for the original objective function, which effectively reduces consumed evaluations during policy learning. Extensive benchmark results demonstrate that Surr-RLDE not only shows competitive performance to recent baselines, but also shows compelling generalization for higher-dimensional problems. Further ablation studies underscore the effectiveness of each technical components in Surr-RLDE. We open-source Surr-RLDE at https://github.com/GMC-DRL/Surr-RLDE.

Recent advances in Meta-learning for Black-Box Optimization (MetaBBO) have shown the potential of using neural networks to dynamically configure evolutionary algorithms (EAs), enhancing their performance and adaptability across various BBO instances. However, they are often tailored to a specific EA, which limits their generalizability and necessitates retraining or redesigns for different EAs and optimization problems. To address this limitation, we introduce ConfigX, a new paradigm of the MetaBBO framework that is capable of learning a universal configuration agent (model) for boosting diverse EAs. To achieve so, our ConfigX first leverages a novel modularization system that enables the flexible combination of various optimization sub-modules to generate diverse EAs during training. Additionally, we propose a Transformer-based neural network to meta-learn a universal configuration policy through multitask reinforcement learning across a designed joint optimization task space. Extensive experiments verify that, our ConfigX, after large-scale pre-training, achieves robust zero-shot generalization to unseen tasks and outperforms state-of-the-art baselines. Moreover, ConfigX exhibits strong lifelong learning capabilities, allowing efficient adaptation to new tasks through fine-tuning. Our proposed ConfigX represents a significant step toward an automatic, all-purpose configuration agent for EAs.

The limitations of existing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) methods lie in their confinement by the closed-environment assumption, hindering their effective and robust handling of unknown target categories in open environments. Open Set Recognition (OSR), a pivotal facet for algorithmic practicality, intends to categorize known classes while denoting unknown ones as "unknown." The chief challenge in OSR involves concurrently mitigating risks associated with generalizing features from a restricted set of known classes to numerous unknown samples and the open space exposure to potential unknown data. To enhance open-set SAR classification, a method called scattering kernel with reciprocal learning network is proposed. Initially, a feature learning framework is constructed based on reciprocal point learning (RPL), establishing a bounded space for potential unknown classes. This approach indirectly introduces unknown information into a learner confined to known classes, thereby acquiring more concise and discriminative representations. Subsequently, considering the variability in the imaging of targets at different angles and the discreteness of components in SAR images, a proposal is made to design convolutional kernels based on large-sized attribute scattering center models. This enhances the ability to extract intrinsic non-linear features and specific scattering characteristics in SAR images, thereby improving the discriminative features of the model and mitigating the impact of imaging variations on classification performance. Experiments on the MSTAR datasets substantiate the superior performance of the proposed approach called ASC-RPL over mainstream methods.

Evolutionary computation (EC) algorithms, renowned as powerful black-box optimizers, leverage a group of individuals to cooperatively search for the optimum. The exploration-exploitation tradeoff (EET) plays a crucial role in EC, which, however, has traditionally been governed by manually designed rules. In this paper, we propose a deep reinforcement learning-based framework that autonomously configures and adapts the EET throughout the EC search process. The framework allows different individuals of the population to selectively attend to the global and local exemplars based on the current search state, maximizing the cooperative search outcome. Our proposed framework is characterized by its simplicity, effectiveness, and generalizability, with the potential to enhance numerous existing EC algorithms. To validate its capabilities, we apply our framework to several representative EC algorithms and conduct extensive experiments on the augmented CEC2021 benchmark. The results demonstrate significant improvements in the performance of the backbone algorithms, as well as favorable generalization across diverse problem classes, dimensions, and population sizes. Additionally, we provide an in-depth analysis of the EET issue by interpreting the learned behaviors of EC.

Evolutionary algorithms, such as Differential Evolution, excel in solving real-parameter optimization challenges. However, the effectiveness of a single algorithm varies across different problem instances, necessitating considerable efforts in algorithm selection or configuration. This paper aims to address the limitation by leveraging the complementary strengths of a group of algorithms and dynamically scheduling them throughout the optimization progress for specific problems. We propose a deep reinforcement learning-based dynamic algorithm selection framework to accomplish this task. Our approach models the dynamic algorithm selection a Markov Decision Process, training an agent in a policy gradient manner to select the most suitable algorithm according to the features observed during the optimization process. To empower the agent with the necessary information, our framework incorporates a thoughtful design of landscape and algorithmic features. Meanwhile, we employ a sophisticated deep neural network model to infer the optimal action, ensuring informed algorithm selections. Additionally, an algorithm context restoration mechanism is embedded to facilitate smooth switching among different algorithms. These mechanisms together enable our framework to seamlessly select and switch algorithms in a dynamic online fashion. Notably, the proposed framework is simple and generic, offering potential improvements across a broad spectrum of evolutionary algorithms. As a proof-of-principle study, we apply this framework to a group of Differential Evolution algorithms. The experimental results showcase the remarkable effectiveness of the proposed framework, not only enhancing the overall optimization performance but also demonstrating favorable generalization ability across different problem classes.

Recent research explores optimization using large language models (LLMs) by either iteratively seeking next-step solutions from LLMs or directly prompting LLMs for an optimizer. However, these approaches exhibit inherent limitations, including low operational efficiency, high sensitivity to prompt design, and a lack of domain-specific knowledge. We introduce LLaMoCo, the first instruction-tuning framework designed to adapt LLMs for solving optimization problems in a code-to-code manner. Specifically, we establish a comprehensive instruction set containing well-described problem prompts and effective optimization codes. We then develop a novel two-phase learning strategy that incorporates a contrastive learning-based warm-up procedure before the instruction-tuning phase to enhance the convergence behavior during model fine-tuning. The experiment results demonstrate that a CodeGen (350M) model fine-tuned by our LLaMoCo achieves superior optimization performance compared to GPT-4 Turbo and the other competitors across both synthetic and realistic problem sets. The fine-tuned model and the usage instructions are available at https://anonymous.4open.science/r/LLaMoCo-722A.

Recent Meta-learning for Black-Box Optimization (MetaBBO) methods harness neural networks to meta-learn configurations of traditional black-box optimizers. Despite their success, they are inevitably restricted by the limitations of predefined hand-crafted optimizers. In this paper, we present \textsc{Symbol}, a novel framework that promotes the automated discovery of black-box optimizers through symbolic equation learning. Specifically, we propose a Symbolic Equation Generator (SEG) that allows closed-form optimization rules to be dynamically generated for specific tasks and optimization steps. Within \textsc{Symbol}, we then develop three distinct strategies based on reinforcement learning, so as to meta-learn the SEG efficiently. Extensive experiments reveal that the optimizers generated by \textsc{Symbol} not only surpass the state-of-the-art BBO and MetaBBO baselines, but also exhibit exceptional zero-shot generalization abilities across entirely unseen tasks with different problem dimensions, population sizes, and optimization horizons. Furthermore, we conduct in-depth analyses of our \textsc{Symbol} framework and the optimization rules that it generates, underscoring its desirable flexibility and interpretability.

We propose a reinforcement learning (RL)-based system that would automatically prescribe a hypothetical patient medication that may help the patient with their mental health-related speech disfluency, and adjust the medication and the dosages in response to zero-cost frequent measurement of the fluency of the patient. We demonstrate the components of the system: a module that detects and evaluates speech disfluency on a large dataset we built, and an RL algorithm that automatically finds good combinations of medications. To support the two modules, we collect data on the effect of psychiatric medications for speech disfluency from the literature, and build a plausible patient simulation system. We demonstrate that the RL system is, under some circumstances, able to converge to a good medication regime. We collect and label a dataset of people with possible speech disfluency and demonstrate our methods using that dataset. Our work is a proof of concept: we show that there is promise in the idea of using automatic data collection to address speech disfluency.

As the demand for high-quality services proliferates, an innovative network architecture, the fully-decoupled RAN (FD-RAN), has emerged for more flexible spectrum resource utilization and lower network costs. However, with the decoupling of uplink base stations and downlink base stations in FD-RAN, the traditional transmission mechanism, which relies on real-time channel feedback, is not suitable as the receiver is not able to feedback accurate and timely channel state information to the transmitter. This paper proposes a novel transmission scheme without relying on physical layer channel feedback. Specifically, we design a radio map based complex-valued precoding network~(RMCPNet) model, which outputs the base station precoding based on user location. RMCPNet comprises multiple subnets, with each subnet responsible for extracting unique modal features from diverse input modalities. Furthermore, the multi-modal embeddings derived from these distinct subnets are integrated within the information fusion layer, culminating in a unified representation. We also develop a specific RMCPNet training algorithm that employs the negative spectral efficiency as the loss function. We evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme on the public DeepMIMO dataset and show that RMCPNet can achieve 16\% and 76\% performance improvements over the conventional real-valued neural network and statistical codebook approach, respectively.

Recently, Meta-Black-Box Optimization with Reinforcement Learning (MetaBBO-RL) has showcased the power of leveraging RL at the meta-level to mitigate manual fine-tuning of low-level black-box optimizers. However, this field is hindered by the lack of a unified benchmark. To fill this gap, we introduce MetaBox, the first benchmark platform expressly tailored for developing and evaluating MetaBBO-RL methods. MetaBox offers a flexible algorithmic template that allows users to effortlessly implement their unique designs within the platform. Moreover, it provides a broad spectrum of over 300 problem instances, collected from synthetic to realistic scenarios, and an extensive library of 19 baseline methods, including both traditional black-box optimizers and recent MetaBBO-RL methods. Besides, MetaBox introduces three standardized performance metrics, enabling a more thorough assessment of the methods. In a bid to illustrate the utility of MetaBox for facilitating rigorous evaluation and in-depth analysis, we carry out a wide-ranging benchmarking study on existing MetaBBO-RL methods. Our MetaBox is open-source and accessible at: https://github.com/GMC-DRL/MetaBox.