F. L. de Sousa          F. M.  Ramos
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)
Caixa Postal 515
12201-970 São José dos Campos, SP - Brazil

Abstract

This paper shows the use of a new optimization method based on the concept of co-evolution natural selection to obtain an optimal configuration of coatings on the surface of a space radiator, such that an effective thermal-optical property specified to it is achieved or approximated. The method, named Extremal Optimization (EO),^[2] is based on a evolutionary model developed by Bak and Sneppen,^[1] that presents features of Self-Organized Criticality. Although it is an evolutive method, unlike the Genetic Algorithm (GA), there is no genetic codification of population in the EO. The EO method has already been compared with the GA and the simulated annealing (SA) for solving the graph partitioning and traveling salesman problems, showing equal or better performance in most of the studied cases.^[2] For the present space radiator problem, the classical SA algorithm^[3] was implemented, and the results were compared with those obtained with the EO.