Solving the Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem Using Sequential Constructive Crossover Operator in Genetic Algorithm

The generalized travelling salesman problem(GTSP),a generalization of the well-known travelling salesman problem(TSP),is considered for our study.Since the GTSP is NP-hard and very complex,finding exact solutions is highly expensive,we will develop genetic algorithms(GAs)to obtain heuristic solutions to the problem.In GAs,as the crossover is a very important process,the crossovermethods proposed for the traditional TSP could be adapted for the GTSP.The sequential constructive crossover(SCX)and three other operators are adapted to use in GAs to solve the GTSP.The effectiveness of GA using SCX is verified on some GTSP Library(GTSPLIB)instances first and then compared against GAs using the other crossover methods.The computational results show the success of the GA using SCX for this problem.Our proposed GA using SCX,and swap mutation could find average solutions whose average percentage of excesses fromthe best-known solutions is between 0.00 and 14.07 for our investigated instances.

Appropriate Combination of Crossover Operator and Mutation Operator in Genetic Algorithms for the Travelling Salesman Problem

Genetic algorithms(GAs)are very good metaheuristic algorithms that are suitable for solving NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems.AsimpleGAbeginswith a set of solutions represented by a population of chromosomes and then uses the idea of survival of the fittest in the selection process to select some fitter chromosomes.It uses a crossover operator to create better offspring chromosomes and thus,converges the population.Also,it uses a mutation operator to explore the unexplored areas by the crossover operator,and thus,diversifies the GA search space.A combination of crossover and mutation operators makes the GA search strong enough to reach the optimal solution.However,appropriate selection and combination of crossover operator and mutation operator can lead to a very good GA for solving an optimization problem.In this present paper,we aim to study the benchmark traveling salesman problem(TSP).We developed several genetic algorithms using seven crossover operators and six mutation operators for the TSP and then compared them to some benchmark TSPLIB instances.The experimental studies show the effectiveness of the combination of a comprehensive sequential constructive crossover operator and insertion mutation operator for the problem.The GA using the comprehensive sequential constructive crossover with insertion mutation could find average solutions whose average percentage of excesses from the best-known solutions are between 0.22 and 14.94 for our experimented problem instances.

On the “Onion Husk” Algorithm for Approximate Solution of the Traveling Salesman Problem

The paper describes some implementation aspects of an algorithm for approximate solution of the traveling salesman problem based on the construction of convex closed contours on the initial set of points (“cities”) and their subsequent combination into a closed path (the so-called contour algorithm or “onion husk” algorithm). A number of heuristics related to the different stages of the algorithm are considered, and various variants of the algorithm based on these heuristics are analyzed. Sets of randomly generated points of different sizes (from 4 to 90 and from 500 to 10,000) were used to test the algorithms. The numerical results obtained are compared with the results of two well-known combinatorial optimization algorithms, namely the algorithm based on the branch and bound method and the simulated annealing algorithm. .

Use the Power of a Genetic Algorithm to Maximize and Minimize Cases to Solve Capacity Supplying Optimization and Travelling Salesman in Nested Problems

Using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is a powerful tool to get solution to large scale design optimization problems. This paper used GA to solve complicated design optimization problems in two different applications. The aims are to implement the genetic algorithm to solve these two different (nested) problems, and to get the best or optimization solutions.

A Scheme Library-Based Ant Colony Optimization with 2-Opt Local Search for Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem

The dynamic traveling salesman problem(DTSP)is significant in logistics distribution in real-world applications in smart cities,but it is uncertain and difficult to solve.This paper proposes a scheme library-based ant colony optimization(ACO)with a two-optimization(2-opt)strategy to solve the DTSP efficiently.The work is novel and contributes to three aspects:problemmodel,optimization framework,and algorithmdesign.Firstly,in the problem model,traditional DTSP models often consider the change of travel distance between two nodes over time,while this paper focuses on a special DTSP model in that the node locations change dynamically over time.Secondly,in the optimization framework,the ACO algorithm is carried out in an offline optimization and online application framework to efficiently reuse the historical information to help fast respond to the dynamic environment.The framework of offline optimization and online application is proposed due to the fact that the environmental change inDTSPis caused by the change of node location,and therefore the newenvironment is somehowsimilar to certain previous environments.This way,in the offline optimization,the solutions for possible environmental changes are optimized in advance,and are stored in a mode scheme library.In the online application,when an environmental change is detected,the candidate solutions stored in the mode scheme library are reused via ACO to improve search efficiency and reduce computational complexity.Thirdly,in the algorithm design,the ACO cooperates with the 2-opt strategy to enhance search efficiency.To evaluate the performance of ACO with 2-opt,we design two challenging DTSP cases with up to 200 and 1379 nodes and compare them with other ACO and genetic algorithms.The experimental results show that ACO with 2-opt can solve the DTSPs effectively.

Improved ant colony optimization algorithm for the traveling salesman problems

Ant colony optimization （ACO） is a new heuristic algo- rithm which has been proven a successful technique and applied to a number of combinatorial optimization problems. The traveling salesman problem （TSP） is among the most important combinato- rial problems. An ACO algorithm based on scout characteristic is proposed for solving the stagnation behavior and premature con- vergence problem of the basic ACO algorithm on TSP. The main idea is to partition artificial ants into two groups： scout ants and common ants. The common ants work according to the search manner of basic ant colony algorithm, but scout ants have some differences from common ants, they calculate each route＇s muta- tion probability of the current optimal solution using path evaluation model and search around the optimal solution according to the mutation probability. Simulation on TSP shows that the improved algorithm has high efficiency and robustness.

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.

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.

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.

K-DSA for the multiple traveling salesman problem

Aimed at a multiple traveling salesman problem(MTSP)with multiple depots and closed paths,this paper proposes a k-means clustering donkey and a smuggler algorithm(KDSA).The algorithm first uses the k-means clustering method to divide all cities into several categories based on the center of various samples;the large-scale MTSP is divided into multiple separate traveling salesman problems(TSPs),and the TSP is solved through the DSA.The proposed algorithm adopts a solution strategy of clustering first and then carrying out,which can not only greatly reduce the search space of the algorithm but also make the search space more fully explored so that the optimal solution of the problem can be more quickly obtained.The experimental results from solving several test cases in the TSPLIB database show that compared with other related intelligent algorithms,the K-DSA has good solving performance and computational efficiency in MTSPs of different scales,especially with large-scale MTSP and when the convergence speed is faster;thus,the advantages of this algorithm are more obvious compared to other algorithms.

An Improved Farmland Fertility Algorithm with Hyper-Heuristic Approach for Solving Travelling Salesman Problem

Travelling Salesman Problem(TSP)is a discrete hybrid optimization problem considered NP-hard.TSP aims to discover the shortest Hamilton route that visits each city precisely once and then returns to the starting point,making it the shortest route feasible.This paper employed a Farmland Fertility Algorithm(FFA)inspired by agricultural land fertility and a hyper-heuristic technique based on the Modified Choice Function(MCF).The neighborhood search operator can use this strategy to automatically select the best heuristic method formaking the best decision.Lin-Kernighan(LK)local search has been incorporated to increase the efficiency and performance of this suggested approach.71 TSPLIB datasets have been compared with different algorithms to prove the proposed algorithm’s performance and efficiency.Simulation results indicated that the proposed algorithm outperforms comparable methods of average mean computation time,average percentage deviation(PDav),and tour length.

GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION OF PUMP CONFIGURATION PROBLEM USING EXTENDED CROWDING GENETIC ALGORITHM

An extended crowding genetic algorithm (ECGA) is introduced for solvingoptimal pump configuration problem, which was presented by T. Westerlund in 1994. This problem hasbeen found to be non-convex, and the objective function contained several local optima and globaloptimality could not be ensured by all the traditional MINLP optimization method. The concepts ofspecies conserving and composite encoding are introduced to crowding genetic algorithm (CGA) formaintain the diversity of population more effectively and coping with the continuous and/or discretevariables in MINLP problem. The solution of three-levels pump configuration got from DICOPT++software (OA algorithm) is also given. By comparing with the solutions obtained from DICOPT++, ECPmethod, and MIN-MIN method, the ECGA algorithm proved to be very effective in finding the globaloptimal solution of multi-levels pump configuration via using the problem-specific information.

The Quantum Approximate Algorithm for Solving Traveling Salesman Problem

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm(QAOA)is an algorithmic framework for finding approximate solutions to combinatorial optimization problems.It consists of interleaved unitary transformations induced by two operators labelled the mixing and problem Hamiltonians.To fit this framework,one needs to transform the original problem into a suitable form and embed it into these two Hamiltonians.In this paper,for the well-known NP-hard Traveling Salesman Problem(TSP),we encode its constraints into the mixing Hamiltonian rather than the conventional approach of adding penalty terms to the problem Hamiltonian.Moreover,we map edges(routes)connecting each pair of cities to qubits,which decreases the search space significantly in comparison to other approaches.As a result,our method can achieve a higher probability for the shortest round-trip route with only half the number of qubits consumed compared to IBM Q’s approach.We argue the formalization approach presented in this paper would lead to a generalized framework for finding,in the context of QAOA,high-quality approximate solutions to NP optimization problems.

Ant colony algorithm based on genetic method for continuous optimization problem

A new algorithm is presented by using the ant colony algorithm based on genetic method （ACG） to solve the continuous optimization problem. Each component has a seed set. The seed in the set has the value of component, trail information and fitness. The ant chooses a seed from the seed set with the possibility determined by trail information and fitness of the seed. The genetic method is used to form new solutions from the solutions got by the ants. Best solutions are selected to update the seeds in the sets and trail information of the seeds. In updating the trail information, a diffusion function is used to achieve the diffuseness of trail information. The new algorithm is tested with 8 different benchmark functions.

Applying the Method for Solving Traveling Salesman Problem Based on Backtracking Algorithm to Order Picking

In the distribution center, the way of order picking personnel to pick goods has two kinds: single picking and batch picking. Based on the way of the single picking and assumed warehouse model, in order to reduce the walking path of order picking, the order picking problem is transformed into the traveling salesman problem in this paper. Based on backtracking algorithm, the order picking path gets optimized. Finally verifing the optimization method under the environment of VC++6.0, order picking path in the warehouse model get optimized, and compared with the traditional order picking walking paths. The results show that in small and medium-sized warehouse, the optimization method proposed in this paper can reduce order picking walking path and improve the work efficiency as well as reduce the time cost.

A Simulated Annealing-Based Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problem

This paper presents a simulated annealing based algorithm for traveling salesman problem (SATSP),which was applied to the symmetrical traveling salesman problem about 31 cities of China and proved to be the best of all the algorithms at present.

A Rule Based Evolutionary Optimization Approach for the Traveling Salesman Problem

The traveling salesman problem has long been regarded as a challenging application for existing optimization methods as well as a benchmark application for the development of new optimization methods. As with many existing algorithms, a traditional genetic algorithm will have limited success with this problem class, particularly as the problem size increases. A rule based genetic algorithm is proposed and demonstrated on sets of traveling salesman problems of increasing size. The solution character as well as the solution efficiency is compared against a simulated annealing technique as well as a standard genetic algorithm. The rule based genetic algorithm is shown to provide superior performance for all problem sizes considered. Furthermore, a post optimal analysis provides insight into which rules were successfully applied during the solution process which allows for rule modification to further enhance performance.

An Application of the Hungarian Algorithm to Solve Traveling Salesman Problem

In this paper we applicate the Hungarian algorithm for assignment problem to solve traveling salesman problem. Tree examples of application of algorithm are included.

Improved genetic algorithm for nonlinear programming problems

An improved genetic algorithm（IGA） based on a novel selection strategy to handle nonlinear programming problems is proposed.Each individual in selection process is represented as a three-dimensional feature vector which is composed of objective function value,the degree of constraints violations and the number of constraints violations.It is easy to distinguish excellent individuals from general individuals by using an individuals＇ feature vector.Additionally,a local search（LS） process is incorporated into selection operation so as to find feasible solutions located in the neighboring areas of some infeasible solutions.The combination of IGA and LS should offer the advantage of both the quality of solutions and diversity of solutions.Experimental results over a set of benchmark problems demonstrate that IGA has better performance than other algorithms.

Solution for integer linear bilevel programming problems using orthogonal genetic algorithm

An integer linear bilevel programming problem is firstly transformed into a binary linear bilevel programming problem, and then converted into a single-level binary implicit programming. An orthogonal genetic algorithm is developed for solving the binary linear implicit programming problem based on the orthogonal design. The orthogonal design with the factor analysis, an experimental design method is applied to the genetic algorithm to make the algorithm more robust, statistical y sound and quickly convergent. A crossover operator formed by the orthogonal array and the factor analysis is presented. First, this crossover operator can generate a smal but representative sample of points as offspring. After al of the better genes of these offspring are selected, a best combination among these offspring is then generated. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.