Hyper-heuristics: an Emerging Direction in Modern Search Technology

This chapter introduces and overviews an emerging methodology in search and optimisation. One of the key aims of these new approaches, which have been termed hyper-heuristics, is to raise the level of generality at which optimisation systems can operate. An objective is that hyper-heuristics will lead to more general systems that are able to handle a wide range of problem domains rather than current meta-heuristic technology which tends to be customised to a particular problem or a narrow class of problems. Hyperheuristics are broadly concerned with intelligently choosing the right heuristic or algorithm in a given situation. Of course, a hyper-heuristic can be (often is) a (meta-)heuristic and it can operate on (meta-)heuristics. In a certain sense, a hyper-heuristic works at a higher level when compared with the typical application of meta-heuristics to optimisation problems i.e. a hyper-heuristic could be thought of as a (meta)-heuristic which operates on lower level (meta)heuristics. In this chapter we will introduce the idea and give a brief history of this emerging area. In addition, we will review some of the latest work to be published in the field.