A High-Dimensional Feature Selection Algorithm Based on Multiobjective Differential Evolution

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel high-dimensional feature selection algorithm based on multiobjective differential evolution, improving search efficiency and solution quality by addressing feature redundancy and interdependence.

Contribution

It proposes a new multiobjective differential evolution algorithm with a specialized initialization, selection, and adaptive grid mechanism for high-dimensional feature selection.

Findings

Outperforms state-of-the-art methods on 11 UCI datasets.

Effectively balances feature reduction and classification accuracy.

Enhances diversity and convergence in high-dimensional spaces.

Abstract

Multiobjective feature selection seeks to determine the most discriminative feature subset by simultaneously optimizing two conflicting objectives: minimizing the number of selected features and the classification error rate. The goal is to enhance the model's predictive performance and computational efficiency. However, feature redundancy and interdependence in high-dimensional data present considerable obstacles to the search efficiency of optimization algorithms and the quality of the resulting solutions. To tackle these issues, we propose a high-dimensional feature selection algorithm based on multiobjective differential evolution. First, a population initialization strategy is designed by integrating feature weights and redundancy indices, where the population is divided into four subpopulations to improve the diversity and uniformity of the initial population. Then, a multiobjective selection mechanism is developed, in which feature weights guide the mutation process. The solution quality is further enhanced through nondominated sorting, with preference given to solutions with lower classification error, effectively balancing global exploration and local exploitation. Finally, an adaptive grid mechanism is applied in the objective space to identify densely populated regions and detect duplicated solutions. Experimental results on 11 UCI datasets of varying difficulty demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms several state-of-the-art multiobjective feature selection approaches regarding feature selection performance.