The Effectiveness of co-mutation in evolutionary algorithms: The Mijn operator

A new mutation operator, called Mijn, capable of operating on a set of adjacent bits in one single step, is introduced. Its properties are examined and compared against those of the bit-flip mutation. A simple Evolutionary Algorithm is described which is based only on selection and Mijn. This algorithm is used for the optimization of a well-known problem testbed and its performance is compared against that offered by both a classical Genetic Algorithm and a more sophisticated one. The obtained results prove the effectiveness of the Mijn operator.