A Scalable Benchmark Test Suite for Dynamic Multi-Objective Optimization with a Changing Number of Objectives

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Main Authors: Shang, Ke, Xiao, Zhiyun, Liu, Yuxuan, Li, Jianguo, Wang, Shaojiang, Sun, Wei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Shang, Ke
Xiao, Zhiyun
Liu, Yuxuan
Li, Jianguo
Wang, Shaojiang
Sun, Wei
author_facet Shang, Ke
Xiao, Zhiyun
Liu, Yuxuan
Li, Jianguo
Wang, Shaojiang
Sun, Wei
contents Dynamic multi-objective optimization with a changing number of objectives has recently attracted increasing attention due to its relevance to real-world problems whose evaluation criteria may evolve over time. However, existing benchmark test suites for this problem setting suffer from a fundamental limitation: when the number of objectives changes, the objective functions themselves also change implicitly. This makes it difficult to isolate and evaluate an algorithm's capability to handle dynamics in the number of objectives alone. In this paper, we analyze this issue in detail and show that several theoretical properties claimed in prior studies rely on an assumption that is violated by commonly used test suites. To address this problem, we propose a scalable benchmark test suite in which the objective functions are fixed throughout the optimization process, while the number of active objectives changes over time. Our benchmark is constructed by defining a maximum-objective problem and dynamically selecting subsets of objectives. To avoid degeneracy issues in classical DTLZ and WFG problems, we adopt Minus-DTLZ and Minus-WFG formulations, in which all objectives are mutually conflicting. Extensive benchmark studies using representative algorithms from the literature demonstrate the usefulness and flexibility of the proposed test suite.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_25785
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Scalable Benchmark Test Suite for Dynamic Multi-Objective Optimization with a Changing Number of Objectives
Shang, Ke
Xiao, Zhiyun
Liu, Yuxuan
Li, Jianguo
Wang, Shaojiang
Sun, Wei
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Dynamic multi-objective optimization with a changing number of objectives has recently attracted increasing attention due to its relevance to real-world problems whose evaluation criteria may evolve over time. However, existing benchmark test suites for this problem setting suffer from a fundamental limitation: when the number of objectives changes, the objective functions themselves also change implicitly. This makes it difficult to isolate and evaluate an algorithm's capability to handle dynamics in the number of objectives alone. In this paper, we analyze this issue in detail and show that several theoretical properties claimed in prior studies rely on an assumption that is violated by commonly used test suites. To address this problem, we propose a scalable benchmark test suite in which the objective functions are fixed throughout the optimization process, while the number of active objectives changes over time. Our benchmark is constructed by defining a maximum-objective problem and dynamically selecting subsets of objectives. To avoid degeneracy issues in classical DTLZ and WFG problems, we adopt Minus-DTLZ and Minus-WFG formulations, in which all objectives are mutually conflicting. Extensive benchmark studies using representative algorithms from the literature demonstrate the usefulness and flexibility of the proposed test suite.
title A Scalable Benchmark Test Suite for Dynamic Multi-Objective Optimization with a Changing Number of Objectives
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25785