# Neural Exploratory Landscape Analysis for Meta-Black-Box-Optimization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10672 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.10672/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 60 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Aug 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Batch Normalization: Accelerating Deep Network Training by Reducing Internal Covariate Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.03167/) (2015)
- [Layer Normalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.06450/) (2016)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [Optuna: A Next-generation Hyperparameter Optimization Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10902/) (2019)
- [Ray: A Distributed Framework for Emerging AI Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.05889/) (2017)
- [EvoPrompt: Connecting LLMs with Evolutionary Algorithms Yields Powerful Prompt Optimizers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.08532/) (2023)
- [A Tutorial on Principal Component Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1404.1100/) (2014)
- [COCO: A Platform for Comparing Continuous Optimizers in a Black-Box Setting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08785/) (2016)
- [Automated Algorithm Selection: Survey and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.11597/) (2018)
- [Evolving Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.00548/) (2017)
- [Discovering Evolution Strategies via Meta-Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.11260/) (2022)
- [Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Parameter Control in Differential Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.08006/) (2019)
- [Multi-agent Dynamic Algorithm Configuration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.06835/) (2022)
- [MetaBox: A Benchmark Platform for Meta-Black-Box Optimization with Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08252/) (2023)
- [Automated Algorithm Selection on Continuous Black-Box Problems By Combining Exploratory Landscape Analysis and Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.08921/) (2017)
- [Comprehensive Feature-Based Landscape Analysis of Continuous and Constrained Optimization Problems Using the R-Package flacco](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.05258/) (2017)
- [Exploratory Landscape Analysis is Strongly Sensitive to the Sampling Strategy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11135/) (2020)
- [Learning adaptive differential evolution algorithm from optimization experiences by policy gradient](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.03572/) (2021)
- [Deep Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Algorithm Selection: A Proof-of-Principle Study on Differential Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02131/) (2024)
- [Symbol: Generating Flexible Black-Box Optimizers through Symbolic Equation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02355/) (2024)
- [Auto-configuring Exploration-Exploitation Tradeoff in Evolutionary Computation via Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08239/) (2024)
- [Reinforced In-Context Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17423/) (2024)
- [DoE2Vec: Deep-learning Based Features for Exploratory Landscape Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.01219/) (2023)
- [Deep-ELA: Deep Exploratory Landscape Analysis with Self-Supervised Pretrained Transformers for Single- and Multi-Objective Continuous Optimization Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.01192/) (2024)
- [Evolution Transformer: In-Context Evolutionary Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02985/) (2024)
- [A Collection of Deep Learning-based Feature-Free Approaches for Characterizing Single-Objective Continuous Fitness Landscapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.05752/) (2022)
- [PyPop7: A Pure-Python Library for Population-Based Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.05652/) (2022)
- [RLEMMO: Evolutionary Multimodal Optimization Assisted By Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08242/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [MetaBox-v2: A Unified Benchmark Platform for Meta-Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.17745/) (2025)
- [DesignX: Human-Competitive Algorithm Designer for Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.17866/) (2025)
- [BBOPlace-Bench: Benchmarking Black-Box Optimization for Chip Placement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23472/) (2025)
- [AutoEP: LLMs-Driven Automation of Hyperparameter Evolution for Metaheuristic Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.23189/) (2025)
- [Sequential Multi-Agent Dynamic Algorithm Configuration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23535/) (2025)
- [A Novel Two-Phase Cooperative Co-evolution Framework for Large-Scale Global Optimization with Complex Overlapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.21797/) (2025)
- [Learning Where, What and How to Transfer: A Multi-Role Reinforcement Learning Approach for Evolutionary Multitasking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.15199/) (2025)
- [Meta-Black-Box Optimization with Ensemble Surrogate Modeling for Robustness-Accuracy Trade-off within SAEA](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.00862/) (2026)
- [OPAL: Operator-Programmed Algorithms for Landscape-Aware Black-Box Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.12809/) (2025)
- [Hyper Algorithm Design Agent: Evolving Learnable Optimizer from Zero](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.35328/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent research in Meta-Black-Box Optimization (MetaBBO) have shown that meta-trained neural networks can effectively guide the design of black-box optimizers, significantly reducing the need for expert tuning and delivering robust performance across complex problem distributions. Despite their success, a paradox remains: MetaBBO still rely on human-crafted Exploratory Landscape Analysis features to inform the meta-level agent about the low-level optimization progress. To address the gap, this paper proposes Neural Exploratory Landscape Analysis (NeurELA), a novel framework that dynamically profiles landscape features through a two-stage, attention-based neural network, executed in an entirely end-to-end fashion. NeurELA is pre-trained over a variety of MetaBBO algorithms using a multi-task neuroevolution strategy. Extensive experiments show that NeurELA achieves consistently superior performance when integrated into different and even unseen MetaBBO tasks and can be efficiently fine-tuned for further performance boost. This advancement marks a pivotal step in making MetaBBO algorithms more autonomous and broadly applicable. The source code of NeurELA can be accessed at https://github.com/GMC-DRL/Neur-ELA.