A new genetic operator maintaining population diversity

The paper describes an enhancement of the traditional 2-point crossover operator used for binary representation in genetic algorithms. This operator preserves a schema common to both parent chromosomes. The enhancement of its functionality is in a modified treatment of this common schema. The offspring produced by the modified operator is partially randomised so that it contains both the common schema and its binary complement. It helps to prevent the genetic algorithms from getting stuck in a local optimum and enhance the exploration of the search space beyond the limits imposed by the classical operator's functionality. The partially randomised 2-point crossover operator has been tested on a number of different problems and compared to the original 2-point operator.