2011 Workshops of International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications
Adaptive Genetic Algorithm for QoS-aware Service Selection
Chengwen Zhang
Beijing Key Laboratory of Intelligent Telecommunications Software and Multimedia
Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications
Beijing, P. R. China
zwjcbj2007@gmail.com
Abstract—An adaptive Genetic Algorithm is presented to select
optimal web service composite plan from a lot of composite plans
on the basis of global Quality-of-Service (QoS) constraints. In this
Genetic Algorithm, a population diversity measurement and an
adaptive crossover strategy are proposed to further improve the
efficiency and convergence of Genetic Algorithm. The probability
value of the crossover operation can be set according to the
combination of population diversity and individual fitness. The
algorithm can get more excellent composite service plan because
it accords with the characteristic of web service selection very
well. Some simulation results on web service selection with global
QoS constraints have shown that the adaptive Genetic Algorithm
can gain quickly better composition service plan that satisfies the
global QoS requirements.
Keywords- adaptive; genetic algorithm; qos-aware; web service
selection
I. INTRODUCTION
It is a very important thing how to create service
composition [1]. A composition service has specific functions
that can be divided into some component functions. These
component functions can be accomplished by some component
services respectively. With the rapid development of web
service technology, as well as intensified competition among
service providers, there are inevitably many service providers
to provide services with same functionalities and different QoS.
These services can combine tens of thousands composite
services with same functions and different QoS. That is, there
are many different combination plans. Therefore, in a service
composition process, we need to choose service components
from massive services with same functions and different QoS
based on user's QoS requirements. The service selection with
global QoS constraints possesses a considerably big proportion
in the problem of QoS-based web service selection. QoS-based
web service selection plays an important role [2-3] in the
combination of Web services. Researches in this area have
aroused widespread concern in academic circles [4-11, 14-21].
QoS-based Web service selection problem is one of the hot
research areas. A lot of international research organizations in
this field carried out relevant research work and have made
some research results. But there are still certain deficiencies.
The existing QoS-based service selection algorithms include
QoS-based semantic technology [4-6, 14] and calculation
algorithms based on QoS properties [7-11, 15-21]. The QoS-
based calculation methods can better meet the combination of
services with the global QoS constraints. Exhaustive methods
[7-9, 15] and approximate algorithms [10-11, 17-21] are two
978-0-7695-4338-3/11 $26.00 © 2011 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/WAINA.2011.43
kinds of QoS properties calculation methods. To meet the
global constraints and to find the optimal combination are
under the scope of combinatorial optimization, and QoS-based
web service selection is NP-hard problem [11], therefore,
approximate algorithm is more suitable to solve optimization
combinatorial problems. Genetic Algorithm is a kind of
approximate algorithm. It is a good method to solve
optimization combinatorial problems [12].
Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a powerful tool to solve
combinatorial optimizing problems [12]. It is an iterative
procedure on the basis of population where each individual
describes a solution. Basic evolution operations, including
crossover, mutation and selection operations, make GA be apt
to very effectively perform global search [13].
The design of Genetic Algorithm operators and parameters
will have significant impact on itself [13]. In particular,
crossover operator is one of the most important evolution
operators. It will affect the convergence and efficiency of
Genetic Algorithm. At present, Genetic Algorithm’s efficiency
is not enough and its speed of convergence is slow.
At present, the proposed web service selection algorithms
based on Genetic Algorithm solved the service selection
problem to a certain extent. But in order to accelerate the
convergence speed and improve the global search capability of
Genetic Algorithm, some methods need to be used.
Based on the above analyses, this paper presents a Genetic
Algorithm. To accelerate the convergence speed of GA and
improve the global search capability of GA, an adaptive
Genetic Algorithm is introduced.
The remaining sections of this paper are as follows. Section
two described researches of QoS-based web service selection
computing. The proposed Genetic Algorithm was discussed in
detail in section three. Section four presented some simulation
works and discussed the simulation results. Section five came
to conclusions and noted that the next step in research content.
II. QUALITY-BASED WEB SERVICE SELECTION
COMPUTATION
Based on all global QoS constraints, to select the best plan
from a large number of service composition plans is the area of
combinatorial optimization. To solve such problems, the
calculation methods based on QoS attributes are divided into
two categories. One category is exhaustive algorithm. In this
kind of algorithm, all of candidate plans are calculated
according to certain rules in order to choose the best plan. The
methods used in [7, 8, 9, 15] fall into this category. The other is
approximate algorithm. In this type of algorithm, an ideal
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composition plan is infinitely close to the best one. At last, a
plan that meets all QoS requirements but is not the best one
will be gained. The methods in [10, 11, 16-21] fall into this
category.
QoS properties calculation through the establishment of QoS
matrix is a representative calculation method. [7] presented a
run-time services choice method in dynamic service
composition, which was based on the definition and calculation
of QoS attribute matrix. But, based on the definition of QoS
properties matrices, when the number of the QoS properties of
web service or the number of web services was very large, the
matrix will be quite huge and the number of computation
would be greater. It could select a single better web service, but
it could not meet the entire QoS requirements. That is, it was
only a local optimization algorithm, rather than a global
optimization algorithm.
In [8, 9], a multi-constrained QoS service selection problem
was modeled as an integer programming problem, and the
integer programming expressions were presented for a variety
of QoS constraints. The most optimal solution of the multi-
constrained QoS service selection problem was gotten using
the integer programming method. Based on QoS properties
matrix, a local optimization algorithm and a global
optimization algorithm were proposed. The local optimization
algorithm could not take into account global QoS constraints,
and was unable to reach a global optimal solution. The global
algorithm had a large amount of calculation, especially in a
dynamic environment. However it could consider the global
QoS constraints, the global optimal solution could be reached.
But when the size of composition services was large, the
compution of the global computational algorithm had increased
a lot. So these two algorithms are limited.
[15] expanded the methods in [9]. It analysed the conditions
of triggering service re-selection in detail, gave the idea of the
an one-dimensional chromosome encoding method to describe
the combination of services, but the expression of gene loci
was different from [10]. [20-21] proposed a combination
service method based on Genetic Algorithm. Through Genetic
Algorithm, it could be ensured that the results of services
choice met the restrictive conditions.
At present, the proposed web service selection method based
on Genetic Algorithm solved the service selection problem to a
certain extent. In order to accelerate the convergence speed of
Genetic Algorithm and improve the global search capability of
Genetic Algorithm, a population diversity measurement and an
adaptive crossover method are adopted in Genetic Algorithm to
achieve fairly good results.
III. ADAPTIVE GENETIC ALGORITHM
In this section, a Genetic Algorithm with a population
diversity measurement and adaptive crossover probability is
presented.
A. Population Diversity
In Genetic Algorithm, a population needs to maintain a
certain degree of diversity. A spatial distribution variance of
individual fitness can be used to measure the population
diversity.
The mth generation population is composed by individuals
X m1 , X m2 ,..., X mN whose fitness values are f m1 , f m2 ,..., f mN
respectively. f m is the average fitness of all the above
individuals. Its formula is the following formula (1).
N
1
¦f
fm = i
m (1)
N m =1

service re-selection and gave the constraint expression for a

stateful web service selection. f m,max is the largest fitness. Its formula is the following
As a result, we can see the limitations of exhaustive formula (2).
calculations. It needs to figure out all possible solutions in
order to obtain the optimal solution. The web service selection
problem based on QoS belongs to NP-hard problem [11], so the f m,max = max{ f mi , i = 1ˈˈ
2 …ˈN} (2)
exhaustive combinatorial optimization method is poor
scalability and has large calculation. Heuristics method can be
used to obtain an approximate solution. f m,min is the minimum fitness. Its formula is the following
In [16], a multidimensional 0-1 knapsack problem model formula (3).
was used for multiple QoS constraints selection. A method
based on branch-and-branch was proposed for solving MMKP f m,min = min{ f mi , i = 1ˈˈ
2 …ˈN} (3)
(Multi-dimension Multi-choice Knap sack Problem) optimal
solution and heuristic-based method for solving second-best
solution. In the field of combinatorial optimization, there is Dm is the population fitness variance of the mth generation
also a random search algorithm based on probability. Using the
population. Its formula is the following formula (4).
random search algorithm, the optimal solution or sub-optimal
solutions can be gained. Genetic Algorithms fall into this
N
1
¦( f
category. Genetic Algorithm is suitable for solving such
problems [12], and it can effectively prevent exhaustive Dm = i
m − f m )2 (4)
algorithm limitations. The solution based on Genetic Algorithm
N i =1

is a novel global optimization one. [10, 11, 17-21] used Genetic

Algorithm for the optimization of Web service composition. Dmax is the maximum fitness variance from the first-
[10] used Genetic Algorithm to solve the QoS-based service generation population to the mth population. Its formula is the
selection. It used one-dimensional chromosome encoding following formula (5).
method to describe the combination of services. [11] also used

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 D max = max{D j , j = 1ˈˈ
2 …ˈP} (5) Among the formula (7), Pc−old is an old crossover

ȍ is the diversity value of the mth population. Its formula is probability value. fi is the fitness of individual xi in a
the following formula (6).
generation of population, fMax and fMin are the maximum
and minimum value of individuals fitness in the generation of
Ω = D m / Dmax (6)
population respectively, k
c is a constant and can be
The greater the value of ȍ is, the higher the level of determined according to the actual situation, ȍ is the
population diversity is. population diversity.
B. Adaptive Crossover Strategy C. Adaptive Genetic Algorithm(AdGA)
A cross-operation is that a pair of chromosomes exchange In this section, we present a novel genetic algorithm named
some of their genes each other in a certain probability ( Pc , AdGA in order to solve quality-driven selection, including the
called the crossover probability) so as to form new individuals. design of a population diversity and an adaptive crossover
The crossover operation is a characteristic of Genetic strategy. AdGA is available in figure 1.
Algorithm that is different from other evolutionary algorithms.
It plays a key role in Genetic Algorithm and is the main method
to generate new individuals. And it determines the global
search ability of Genetic Algorithm. The greater the value of
Pc is, the more easy it is to find new individuals and the
stronger the algorithm's global search ability is and the more
difficult it is to fall into local minimum. But, it will result in
slower convergence. If Pc is smaller value, good individuals
are not easy to be destroyed and convergence speed becomes
faster. But, it is easy to fall into local minimum.
Simple Genetic Algorithm uses fixed crossover probability,
so it can not achieve good results in the global search ability
and convergence speed at the same time. For an issue, it is
difficult to find a suitable fixed crossover probability to meet
the needs of the various stages of Genetic Algorithms.
The probability value of a crossover operation can be set
according to the combination of population diversity and
individual fitness. When the population diversity declines, the
crossover probability should be increased in order to increase
the capacity to detect new individuals. When the degree of the
population diversity increases, we should reduce the crossover
probability so as to increase the convergence speed of Genetic
Algorithm. When the fitness of an individual is lower, in order Figure 1. AdGA.
to accelerate the convergence speed and improve the global
search capability and the optimal individual search capacity, The adaptive crossover handling is an effective approach to
higher crossover probability is required to quickly generate prevent GA from being trapped into a local optimal solution.
new better individuals. When the fitness of an individual is
higher, in order to reduce the possibility of that the genes of
individual are damaged and create new better entities in the IV. TESTS AND ANALYSES OF ADAPTIVE GENETIC
vicinity of good individuals to improve local search ability, ALGORITHM
lower crossover probability is needed. The proposed service selecting algorithm in this paper
Based on the above analyses, this paper used adaptive improves simple Genetic Algorithm. Through the improvement,
crossover probability based on the fitness as well as the adaptive Genetic Algorithm has better search ability and faster
diversity of population. convergence speed. Here are the tests and test analyses through
which the capacity and efficiency of presented Genetic
fi − fMin 1 Algorithm will be validated.
Pc = Pc−old ×[1− × ] (7) In order to verify the effect of services choice done by the
fMax − fMin 1+ exp(−kcΩ) adaptive Genetic Algorithm, some comparison tests between
simple Genetic Algorithm and the adaptive Genetic Algorithm
were made.
In order to fairly test the two algorithms, they would run in
the same hardware and software operating environment,

275
including CPU, memory, OS, development language and IDE,
etc.
In the comparison tests, the two algorithms solved the
service selection problems with the same size of services
combination. In every comparison test, the number of tasks in
service composition was same. Without affecting the outcome
of the comparative experiment, each service had four QoS
attributes in the experiments. The values of specific QoS
attributes were randomly generated within a certain range.
Some global limits for a part of QoS properties were
randomly generated. The overall limits were applied to all
specific service compositions through the penalty function
method.
In addition, the simple Genetic Algorithm and the hybrid
algorithm used initialization parameters as following. The
population size is 500. The mutation probability is 0.1. Pc−old
is 0.7.
Based on the above preparation of test data, simple Genetic
Algorithm and the adaptive Genetic Algorithm were run
respectively. The test results were analyzed from both
convergence speed and search capabilities.
selection problem. The presented Genetic Algorithm in this
paper accelerates the convergence rate through the use of
adaptive crossover strategy. As described in Table 2,
comparison of data can fully verify that the adaptive Genetic
Algorithm has faster convergence than the simple Genetic
Algorithm and can get the final results of service selection in a
shorter period of time.
B. Tests and Analyses of Search Capability
Search capability is that the algorithm can find the optimal
solution in a solution space. It can be measured by the quality
of the solution that the algorithm searches. In Genetic
Algorithm, the algorithm search capability can be measured
through the fitness value of the final selected individual.
Adaptive Genetic Algorithm took an adaptive crossover and
population diversity to improve Genetic Algorithm. In order to
verify these strategies, simple Genetic Algorithm and adaptive
Genetic Algorithm were run for 50 times. The average value of
the final fitness values at all running time was taken. A few set
of test data are listed in Table 3.
TABLE III. AVERAGE VALUE OF MAXIMUM FITNESS

A. Tests and Analyses of Convergence Speed Task average fitness average fitness
number value of value of Adaptive GA
Algorithm convergence rate refers to the number of Simple GA
population generation to reach the final solution. In order to 10 0.138 0.148
validate whether the proposed Genetic Algorithm increased the 25 0.074 0.132
convergence speed, simple Genetic Algorithm and the adaptive 30 0.046 0.119
Genetic Algorithm were run for 50 times respectively. The
average running generation was taken. A few of result data are As shown in Table 3, when in the face of the selection
listed in Table 1. problem with the same size of combination services, the
adaptive Genetic Algorithm can get higher average final fitness
TABLE I. AVERAGE GENERATION WHEN A MAXIMUM FITNESS VALUE IS
OBTAINED value than the simple Genetic Algorithm. When the scale of the
composition problem is small, the advantage of the adaptive
Task Simple GA Adaptive GA Genetic Algorithm is not clear. But, when there are a larger
number
10 463 459
number of tasks in a combined service flow, adaptive Genetic
25 494 338 Algorithm can get much better solutions than the simple
30 447 313 Genetic Algorithm. In the test conditions of this article, when
the number of tasks is more than 10, the adaptive Genetic
Algorithm clearly has stronger search capabilities. This shows
As described in Table 1, comparison of data can fully verify that the adaptive Genetic Algorithm has better search
that the adaptive Genetic Algorithm has faster convergence capabilities, especially, that the search capabilities are more
than the simple Genetic Algorithm. The reason is that the prominent in the larger scale of service selection.
adaptive crossover strategy can get quicker convergence speed
than a fixed crossover method. V. CONCLUSIONS
As a kind of distributed computing model, academia and
TABLE II. COMPARISON OF AVERAGE RUNNING TIME
industry have been greatly concerned about web services in
Task Simple GA Adaptive GA recent years. With the web services technologies have become
number (ms) (ms) more sophisticated, more and more easily used web services
10 287 176
with the stability characteristics are shared on network. But a
25 879 568
30 3125 2665
single atomic web services can provide limited functionalities.
In order to more fully utilize the shared web services, it is
necessary to combine shared web services to form a new
As can be seen from Table 2, when the number of tasks is
combination of web services to provide more powerful service
added, the running time will increase. For the same number of
functions.
tasks, the adaptive GA has less running time than the simple
With the progressive development of web services
GA. This means that a dynamic and adaptive crossover
technology and application, it is inevitable for a function to
probability will help to shorten the time when a maximum
appear a large number of candidate services with the same
fitness value is gotten.
function properties and different non-functional attributes
The efficiency of simple Genetic Algorithm is still
(mainly referring to QoS attributes). It has become an urgent
unsatisfactory, although to a certain extent it solved the service

276
problem that how to fast and flexibly select a high-availability,
high reliability, high performance and the best services to meet
user’s needs from massive candidate services. Namely, it is
QoS-based service selection problem.
This paper presents a services selection algorithm based on
an adaptive GA. Based on the analyses of the diversity of GA,
the simple Genetic Algorithm is improved itself. The
improvements include that the design of a population diversity
and an adaptive crossover strategy. In the result, the search
ability and convergence speed can be improved at the same
time.
Through the realization of the above-mentioned algorithm,
testing and analyses of test results, some strong validations of
the proposed algorithm in capacity and efficiency effects were
done.
In the above experiments, the number of individuals in
populations is the same in the face of different combination
sizes. If the populations with different sizes can be adopted for
different composition scales, the efficiency of algorithm will be
greatly improved. Therefore, the next study will examine the
dynamic adaptive mechanism of population size. An approach
of Genetic Algorithm with ant colony algorithm is used to
select concrete services in [23]. MMAS (Max-Min Ant System)
has abilities of parallel processing and global searching.
MMAS can put feedback information to Genetic Algorithm. So,
another future work is about how Genetic Algorithm works
together with MMAS in dynamic web service selection
environment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work presented in this paper was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation project of China under
Grant No. 60872042.
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