Stochastic universal sampling
Appearance

Stochastic universal sampling (SUS) is a genetic operator used in genetic algorithms for selecting potentially useful solutions for recombination.
First introduced into the literature by Baker[1], SUS is a development of Fitness proportionate selection which exhibits no bias and minimal spread. Where fitness proportionate selection chooses several solutions from the population by repeated random sampling, SUS uses a single random value to sample all of the solutions by choosing them at evenly spaced intervals. Described as an algorithm SUS looks something like:
RWS(population, f) Ptr := 0 for p in population if Ptr < f and Ptr + fitness of p > f return p Ptr := Ptr + fitness of p
SUS(population, N) order population by fitness F := total fitness of population Start := random number between 0 and F/N Ptrs := [Start + i*F/N | i in [0..N-1]] return [RWS(i) | i in Ptrs]
- ^ 1