DESDEO: The Modular and Open Source Framework for Interactive Multiobjective Optimization

Abstract

Interactive multiobjective optimization methods incorporate preferences from a human decision maker in the optimization process iteratively. This allows the decision maker to focus on a subset of solutions, learn about the underlying trade-offs among the conflicting objective functions in the problem and adjust preferences during the solution process. Incorporating preference information allows computing only solutions that are interesting to the decision maker, decreasing computation time significantly. Thus, interactive methods have many strengths making them viable for various applications. However, there is a lack of existing software frameworks to apply and experiment with interactive methods. We fill a gap in the optimization software available and introduce DESDEO, a modular and open source Python framework for interactive multiobjective optimization. DESDEO’s modular structure enables implementing new interactive methods and reusing previously implemented ones and their functionalities. Both scalarization-based and evolutionary methods are supported, and DESDEO allows hybridizing interactive methods of both types in novel ways and enables even switching the method during the solution process. Moreover, DESDEO also supports defining multiobjective optimization problems of different kinds, such as data-driven or simulation-based problems. We discuss DESDEO’s modular structure in detail and demonstrate its capabilities in four carefully chosen use cases aimed at helping readers unfamiliar with DESDEO get started using it. We also give an example on how DESDEO can be extended with a graphical user interface. Overall, DESDEO offers a much-needed toolbox for researchers and practitioners to efficiently develop and apply interactive methods in new ways – both in academia and industry.