Exterior Path Relinking for Zero-One Optimization

Path relinking (PR) maintains a reference set of elite and diverse solutions, and generates new solutions between and beyond initiating and guiding solutions selected from this set as a foundation for an evolutionary solution process. However, in spite of the widespread application of path relinking in combinatorial optimization, almost all PR implementations only consider the between-form of PR. This note discusses the beyondform of path relinking, which we call Exterior Path Relinking, and focuses on its relevance for diversification strategies in binary optimization. Finally, we also observe how to combine the Exterior (beyond) and Interior (between) forms of path relinking.