The 'Blackboard Pattern' for Metaheuristics
Kevin Graham, Jerry Swan, Simon P. Martin · 2015
We describe the 'Blackboard' design pattern for metaheuristics which allows multiple agents to combine their expertise opportunistically to contribute towards a solution. Features of the Blackboard pattern may include heterogeneity of solution representations (e.g. both graph and permutation for the TSP) and asynchronous processing, the latter rendering the traditionally hard distinction between 'online' and 'offline' activity less significant.