An Inversion Evolutionary Algorithm on How to Convert FDP to TSP

The Film Copy Deliverer Problem (FDP),much more difficult than TSP,is a new problem in the combination optimization. In this paper,a new algorithm is introduced. First,the FDP is converted to TSP. Then an evolutionary algorithm based on inversion operator is adopted. Compared with other Genetic Algorithms,it is not only more simple and easier to realize but also faster and more accurate.

Study of TSP based on self-organizing map

Self-organizing map(SOM) proposed by Kohonen has obtained certain achievements in solving the traveling salesman problem(TSP).To improve Kohonen SOM,an effective initialization and parameter modification method is discussed to obtain a faster convergence rate and better solution.Therefore,a new improved self-organizing map(ISOM)algorithm is introduced and applied to four traveling salesman problem instances for experimental simulation,and then the result of ISOM is compared with those of four SOM algorithms:AVL,KL,KG and MSTSP.Using ISOM,the average error of four travelingsalesman problem instances is only 2.895 0%,which is greatly better than the other four algorithms:8.51%(AVL),6.147 5%(KL),6.555%(KG) and 3.420 9%(MSTSP).Finally,ISOM is applied to two practical problems:the Chinese 100 cities-TSP and102 counties-TSP in Shanxi Province,and the two optimal touring routes are provided to the tourists.

A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem with Pickup and Delivery

In this paper, a hybrid genetic algorithm （GA） is proposed for the traveling salesman problem （TSP） with pickup and delivery （TSPPD）. In our algorithm, a novel pheromone-based crossover operator is advanced that utilizes both local and global information to construct offspring. In addition, a local search procedure is integrated into the GA to accelerate convergence. The proposed GA has been tested on benchmark instances, and the computational results show that it gives better convergence than existing heuristics.

New Optimization Method, the Algorithms of Changes, for Heat Exchanger Design

Heat exchangers are widely used in the process engineering such as the chemical industries, the petroleum industries, and the HVAC applications etc. An optimally designed heat exchanger cannot only help the optimization of the equipment size but also the reduction of the power consumption. In this paper, a new optimization approach called algorithms of changes (AOC) is proposed for design and optimization of the shell-tube heat exchanger. This new optimization technique is developed based on the concept of the book of changes (I Ching) which is one of the oldest Chinese classic texts. In AOC, the hexagram operations in I Ching are generalized to binary string case and an iterative process, which imitates the I Ching inference, is defined. Before applying the AOC to the heat exchanger design problem, the new optimization method is examined by the benchmark optimization problems such as the global optimization test functions and the travelling salesman problem (TSP). Based on the TSP results, the AOC is shown to be superior to the genetic algorithms (GA). The AOC is then used in the optimal design of heat exchanger. The shell inside diameter, tube outside diameter, and baffles spacing are treated as the design (or optimized) variables. The cost of the heat exchanger is arranged as the objective function. For the heat exchanger design problem, the results show that the AOC is comparable to the GA method. Both methods can find the optimal solution in a short period of time.

Hybrid hierarchical trajectory planning for a fixed-wing UCAV performing air-to-surface multi-target attack

This paper considers the problem of generating a flight trajectory for a single fixed-wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle （UCAV） performing an air-to-surface multi-target attack （A/SMTA） mission using satellite-guided bombs. First, this problem is formulated as a variant of the traveling salesman problem （TSP）, called the dynamic-constrained TSP with neighborhoods （DCT- SPN）. Then, a hierarchical hybrid approach, which partitions the planning algorithm into a roadmap planning layer and an optimal control layer, is proposed to solve the DCTSPN. In the roadmap planning layer, a novel algorithm based on an updatable proba- bilistic roadmap （PRM） is presented, which operates by randomly sampling a finite set of vehicle states from continuous state space in order to reduce the complicated trajectory planning problem to planning on a finite directed graph. In the optimal control layer, a collision-free state-to-state trajectory planner based on the Gauss pseudospectral method is developed, which can generate both dynamically feasible and optimal flight trajectories. The entire process of solving a DCTSPN consists of two phases. First, in the offline preprocessing phase, the algorithm constructs a PRM, and then converts the original problem into a standard asymmet- ric TSP （ATSP）. Second, in the online querying phase, the costs of directed edges in PRM are updated first, and a fast heuristic searching algorithm is then used to solve the ATSP. Numerical experiments indicate that the algorithm proposed in this paper can generate both feasible and near-optimal solutions quickly for online purposes.

VIRTUAL PROCESSING OF LASER SURFACE HARDENING ON AUTOBODY DIES

A new method of collision-free path plan integrated in virtual processing is developed to improve the efficiency of laser surface hardening on dies. The path plan is based on the premise of no collision and the optimization object is the shortest path. The optimization model of collision-free path is built from traveling salesman problem （TSP）. Collision-free path between two machining points is calculated in configuration space （C-Space）. Ant colony optimization （ACO） algorithm is applied to TSP of all the machining points to find the shortest path, which is simulated in virtual environment set up by IGRIP software. Virtual machining time, no-collision report, etc, are put out atter the simulation. An example on autobody die is processed in the virtual platform, the simulation results display that ACO has perfect optimization effect, and the method of virtual processing with integration of collision-free optimal path is practical.

Traveling Salesman Problem Using an Enhanced Hybrid Swarm Optimization Algorithm

The traveling salesman problem( TSP) is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem as well as an NP-complete problem. A dynamic multi-swarm particle swarm optimization and ant colony optimization( DMPSO-ACO) was presented for TSP.The DMPSO-ACO combined the exploration capabilities of the dynamic multi-swarm particle swarm optimizer( DMPSO) and the stochastic exploitation of the ant colony optimization( ACO) for solving the traveling salesman problem. In the proposed hybrid algorithm,firstly,the dynamic swarms,rapidity of the PSO was used to obtain a series of sub-optimal solutions through certain iterative times for adjusting the initial allocation of pheromone in ACO. Secondly,the positive feedback and high accuracy of the ACO were employed to solving whole problem. Finally,to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed hybrid algorithm,various scale benchmark problems were tested to demonstrate the potential of the proposed DMPSO-ACO algorithm. The results show that DMPSO-ACO is better in the search precision,convergence property and has strong ability to escape from the local sub-optima when compared with several other peer algorithms.

Niche pseudo-parallel genetic algorithms for path optimization of autonomous mobile robot

A new genetic algorithm named niche pseudo-parallel genetic algorithm （NPPGA） is presented for path evolution and genetic optimization of autonomous mobile robot. The NPPGA is an effective improvement to maintain the population diversity as well for the sake of avoiding premature and strengthen parallelism of the population to accelerate the search process combined with niche genetic algorithms and pseudo-parallel genetic algorithms. The proposed approach is evaluated by robotic path optimization, which is a specific application of traveler salesman problem （TSP）. Experimental results indicated that a shortest path could be obtained in the practical traveling salesman problem named ＂Robot tour around Pekin＂, and the performance conducted by NPPGA is better than simple genetic algorithm （SGA） and distributed paralell genetic algorithms （DPGA）.

Parallel discrete lion swarm optimization algorithm for solving traveling salesman problem

As a typical representative of the NP-complete problem, the traveling salesman problem(TSP) is widely utilized in computer networks, logistics distribution, and other fields. In this paper, a discrete lion swarm optimization(DLSO) algorithm is proposed to solve the TSP. Firstly, we introduce discrete coding and order crossover operators in DLSO. Secondly, we use the complete 2-opt(C2-opt) algorithm to enhance the local search ability.Then in order to enhance the efficiency of the algorithm, a parallel discrete lion swarm optimization(PDLSO) algorithm is proposed.The PDLSO has multiple populations, and each sub-population independently runs the DLSO algorithm in parallel. We use the ring topology to transfer information between sub-populations. Experiments on some benchmarks TSP problems show that the DLSO algorithm has a better accuracy than other algorithms, and the PDLSO algorithm can effectively shorten the running time.

ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENT OF LEAD TIME FOR JOB SHOP UNDER MIXED PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Firstly an overview of the potential impact on work-in-process （WIP） and lead time is provided when transfer lot sizes are undifferentiated from processing lot sizes. Simple performance examples are compared to those from a shop with one-piece transfer lots. Next, a mathematical programming model for minimizing lead time in the mixed-model job shop is presented, in which one-piece transfer lots are used. Key factors affecting lead time are found by analyzing the sum of the longest setup time of individual items among the shared processes （SLST） and the longest processing time of individual items among processes （LPT）. And lead time can be minimized by cutting down the SLST and LPT. Reduction of the SLST is described as a traveling salesman problem （TSP）, and the minimum of the SLST is solved through job shop scheduling. Removing the bottleneck and leveling the production line optimize the LPT. If the number of items produced is small, the routings are relatively short, and items and facilities are changed infrequently, the optimal schedule will remain valid. Finally a brief example serves to illustrate the method.

Algorithm for Solving Traveling Salesman Problem Based on Self-Organizing Mapping Network

Traveling salesman problem(TSP)is a classic non-deterministic polynomial-hard optimization prob-lem.Based on the characteristics of self-organizing mapping(SOM)network,this paper proposes an improved SOM network from the perspectives of network update strategy,initialization method,and parameter selection.This paper compares the performance of the proposed algorithms with the performance of existing SOM network algorithms on the TSP and compares them with several heuristic algorithms.Simulations show that compared with existing SOM networks,the improved SOM network proposed in this paper improves the convergence rate and algorithm accuracy.Compared with iterated local search and heuristic algorithms,the improved SOM net-work algorithms proposed in this paper have the advantage of fast calculation speed on medium-scale TSP.

Two-Level Genetic Algorithm for Clustered Traveling Salesman Problem with Application in Large-Scale TSPs

Let G = （V, E） be a complete undirected graph with vertex set V, edge set E, and edge weights I（e） satisfying the triangle inequality. The vertex set V is partitioned into clusters V1, V2 ,…, Vk. The clustered traveling salesman problem （CTSP） seeks to compute the shortest Hamiltonian tour that visits all the vertices, in which the vertices of each cluster are visited consecutively. A two-level genetic algorithm （TLGA） was developed for the problem, which favors neither intra-cluster paths nor inter-cluster paths, thus realized integrated evolutionary optimization for both levels of the CTSP. Results show that the algorithm is more effective than known algorithms. A large-scale traveling salesman problem （TSP） can be converted into a CTSP by clustering so that it can then be solved by the algorithm. Test results demonstrate that the clustering TLGA for large TSPs is more effective and efficient than the classical genetic algorithm.

New Meta-Heuristic for Combinatorial Optimization Problems：Intersection Based Scaling

Combinatorial optimization problems are found in many application fields such as computer science, engineering and economy. In this paper, a new efficient meta-heuristic, Intersection-Based Scaling (IBS for abbreviation), is proposed and it can be applied to the combinatorial optimization problems. The main idea of IBS is to scale the size of the instance based on the intersection of some local optima, and to simplify the search space by extracting the intersection from the instance, which makes the search more efficient. The combination of IBS with some local search heuristics of different combinatorial optimization problems such as Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Graph Partitioning Problem (GPP) is studied, and comparisons are made with some of the best heuristic algorithms and meta-heuristic algorithms. It is found that it has significantly improved the performance of existing local search heuristics and significantly outperforms the known best algorithms. Keywords combinatorial optimization - TSP (Traveling Salesman Problem) - GPP (Graph Partitioning Problem) - IBS (Intersection-Based Scaling) - meta heuristic Regular PaperThis work is supported by the National Basic Research 973 Program of China (Grant No.TG1998030401).Peng Zou was born in 1979. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2000. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include algorithms for NP-hard problems and parallel computing.Zhi Zhou was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1995. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include combinatorial problem and parallel computing.Ying-Yu Wan was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from USTC in 2002. His current research interests include parallel computing and combinatorial problem.Guo-Liang Chen was born in 1938. Now he is an Academician of CAS and Ph.D. supervisor in Department of Computer Science at USTC, director of the National High Performance Computing Center at Hefei. His current research interests include parallel computing, computer architecture and combinatorial optimization.Jun Gu was born in 1956. He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from USTC in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from University of Utah. Now he is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor in computer science at USTC and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His main research interrests include algorithms for NP-hard problems.

Hybrid Optimization Algorithm Based on Wolf Pack Search and Local Search for Solving Traveling Salesman Problem

Traveling salesman problem(TSP) is one of the typical NP-hard problems, and it has been used in many engineering applications. However, the previous swarm intelligence(SI) based algorithms for TSP cannot coordinate with the exploration and exploitation abilities and are easily trapped into local optimum. In order to deal with this situation, a new hybrid optimization algorithm based on wolf pack search and local search(WPS-LS)is proposed for TSP. The new method firstly simulates the predatory process of wolf pack from the broad field to a specific place so that it allows for a search through all possible solution spaces and prevents wolf individuals from getting trapped into local optimum. Then, local search operation is used in the algorithm to improve the speed of solving and the accuracy of solution. The test of benchmarks selected from TSPLIB shows that the results obtained by this algorithm are better and closer to the theoretical optimal values with better robustness than those obtained by other methods.