A test problem with adjustable degrees of overlap and conflict among subproblems

In the field of genetic algorithms (GAs), some researches on overlapping building blocks (BBs) have been proposed. To further study on overlapping BBs, we need to measure the performance of an algorithm to solve problems with over-lap among subproblems. Several test problems have been proposed, but the controllability over the degree of overlapping is not yet fully satisfactory. Our new test problem is designed with full controllability of overlapping as well as conflict, a specific type of overlap, among BBs. We present a framework for building the structure of this problem in this paper. Some model-building GAs are tested by the proposed problem. This test problem can be applied to further researches on overlapping and conflicting BBs. © 2012 ACM.