New crossover operators in linear genetic programming for multiclass object classification.

Genetic programming (GP) has been successfully applied to solving multiclass classification problems, but the performance of GP classifiers still lags behind that of alternative techniques. This paper investigates an alternative form of GP, Linear GP (LGP), which demonstrates great promise as a classifier as the division of classes is inherent in this technique. By combining biological inspiration with detailed knowledge of program structure two new crossover operators that significantly improve performance are developed. The first is a new crossover operator that mimics biological crossover between alleles, which helps reduce the disruptive effect on building blocks of information. The second is an extension of the first where a heuristic is used to predict offspring fitness guiding search to promising solutions.