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Unveiling Effective Heuristic Strategies: A Review of Cross-Domain Heuristic Search Challenge Algorithms

by Mohamad Khairulamirin Md Razali1,*, Masri Ayob2, Abdul Hadi Abd Rahman2, Razman Jarmin3, Chian Yong Liu3, Muhammad Maaya3, Azarinah Izaham3, Graham Kendall4,5

1 Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
2 Center for Artificial Intelligence Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
3 Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4 School of Engineering and Computing, MILA University, Nilai, 71800, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
5 School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham-Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: Mohamad Khairulamirin Md Razali. Email: email

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Algorithms, Models, and Applications of Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making)

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2025, 142(2), 1233-1288. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2025.060481

Abstract

The Cross-domain Heuristic Search Challenge (CHeSC) is a competition focused on creating efficient search algorithms adaptable to diverse problem domains. Selection hyper-heuristics are a class of algorithms that dynamically choose heuristics during the search process. Numerous selection hyper-heuristics have different implementation strategies. However, comparisons between them are lacking in the literature, and previous works have not highlighted the beneficial and detrimental implementation methods of different components. The question is how to effectively employ them to produce an efficient search heuristic. Furthermore, the algorithms that competed in the inaugural CHeSC have not been collectively reviewed. This work conducts a review analysis of the top twenty competitors from this competition to identify effective and ineffective strategies influencing algorithmic performance. A summary of the main characteristics and classification of the algorithms is presented. The analysis underlines efficient and inefficient methods in eight key components, including search points, search phases, heuristic selection, move acceptance, feedback, Tabu mechanism, restart mechanism, and low-level heuristic parameter control. This review analyzes the components referencing the competition’s final leaderboard and discusses future research directions for these components. The effective approaches, identified as having the highest quality index, are mixed search point, iterated search phases, relay hybridization selection, threshold acceptance, mixed learning, Tabu heuristics, stochastic restart, and dynamic parameters. Findings are also compared with recent trends in hyper-heuristics. This work enhances the understanding of selection hyper-heuristics, offering valuable insights for researchers and practitioners aiming to develop effective search algorithms for diverse problem domains.

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Cite This Article

APA Style
Razali, M.K.M., Ayob, M., Rahman, A.H.A., Jarmin, R., Liu, C.Y. et al. (2025). Unveiling effective heuristic strategies: A review of cross-domain heuristic search challenge algorithms. Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, 142(2), 1233–1288. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2025.060481
Vancouver Style
Razali MKM, Ayob M, Rahman AHA, Jarmin R, Liu CY, Maaya M, et al. Unveiling effective heuristic strategies: A review of cross-domain heuristic search challenge algorithms. Comput Model Eng Sci. 2025;142(2):1233–1288. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2025.060481
IEEE Style
M. K. M. Razali et al., “Unveiling Effective Heuristic Strategies: A Review of Cross-Domain Heuristic Search Challenge Algorithms,” Comput. Model. Eng. Sci., vol. 142, no. 2, pp. 1233–1288, 2025. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2025.060481



cc Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Tech Science Press.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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