Memetic algorithm

Memetic algorithms is a population-based approach for heuristic search in optimization problems. For some problem domains they have been shown to be more efficient than genetic algorithms. Some researchers view them as hybrid genetic algorithms or parallel genetic algorithms.

From the view of Genetic Algorithm, if GA is combined with some kinds of Local Search, the algorithm is termed as memetic algorithm.

Memetic algorithms are the subject of intense scientific research and have been successfully applied to a multitude of real-world problems ranging from the construction of university exam timetables, to the prediction of protein structures and the design of spacecraft trajectories.