A hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm for optimization of crew scheduling

Crew scheduling problem is the problem of assigning crew members to the flights so that total cost is minimized while regulatory and legal restrictions are satisfied. The crew scheduling is an NP-hard constrained combinatorial optimization problem and hence, it cannot be exactly solved in a reasonable computational time. This paper presents a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm synchronized with a local search heuristic for solving the crew scheduling problem. Recent studies use genetic algorithm (GA) or ant colony optimization (ACO) to solve large scale crew scheduling problems. Furthermore, two other hybrid algorithms based on GA and ACO algorithms have been developed to solve the problem. Computational results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed hybrid PSO algorithm over other algorithms.     

三种现代优化算法的比较研究

现代最优化算法比较常见的有遗传算法、蚁群算法、微粒群算法、人工鱼群算法等。本文主要对前三种算法优化性能进行比较研究。首先介绍了三种算法的基本原理,然后总结了各自的优缺点并从原理和参数两个方面对三种算法进行了对比分析,最后以经典TSP问题为例进行了仿真研究并得出了一些指导算法适用范围的结论。     

A comparative study of the improvement of performance using a PSO modified by ACO applied to TSP

Swarm-inspired optimization has become very popular in recent years. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms have attracted the interest of researchers due to their simplicity, effectiveness and efficiency in solving complex optimization problems. Both ACO and PSO were successfully applied for solving the traveling salesman problem (TSP). Performance of the conventional PSO algorithm for small problems with moderate dimensions and search space is very satisfactory. As the search, space gets more complex, conventional approaches tend to offer poor solutions. This paper presents a novel approach by introducing a PSO, which is modified by the ACO algorithm to improve the performance. The new hybrid method (PSO–ACO) is validated using the TSP benchmarks and the empirical results considering the completion time and the best length, illustrate that the proposed method is efficient.     

Study on hybrid PS-ACO algorithm

Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is a recent meta-heuristic method inspired by the behavior of real ant colonies. The algorithm uses parallel computation mechanism and performs strong robustness, but it faces the limitations of stagnation and premature convergence. In this paper, a hybrid PS-ACO algorithm, ACO algorithm modified by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, is presented. The pheromone updating rules of ACO are combined with the local and global search mechanisms of PSO. On one hand, the search space is expanded by the local exploration; on the other hand, the search process is directed by the global experience. The local and global search mechanisms are combined stochastically to balance the exploration and the exploitation, so that the search efficiency can be improved. The convergence analysis and parameters selection are given through simulations on traveling salesman problems (TSP). The results show that the hybrid PS-ACO algorithm has better convergence performance than genetic algorithm (GA), ACO and MMAS under the condition of limited evolution iterations.     

An efficient hybrid approach based on PSO, ACO and k-means for cluster analysis

Clustering is a popular data analysis and data mining technique. A popular technique for clustering is based on k-means such that the data is partitioned into K clusters. However, the k-means algorithm highly depends on the initial state and converges to local optimum solution. This paper presents a new hybrid evolutionary algorithm to solve nonlinear partitional clustering problem. The proposed hybrid evolutionary algorithm is the combination of FAPSO (fuzzy adaptive particle swarm optimization), ACO (ant colony optimization) and k-means algorithms, called FAPSO-ACO–K, which can find better cluster partition. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated through several benchmark data sets. The simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than other algorithms such as PSO, ACO, simulated annealing (SA), combination of PSO and SA (PSO–SA), combination of ACO and SA (ACO–SA), combination of PSO and ACO (PSO–ACO), genetic algorithm (GA), Tabu search (TS), honey bee mating optimization (HBMO) and k-means for partitional clustering problem.     

基于粒子群优化的蚁群算法在TSP中的应用

结合粒子群算法的问题,提出用混合蚁群算法来求解著名的旅行商问题.问题的核心是应用粒子群算法对蚁群算法的控制参数:启发式因子、信息素挥发系数、随机性选择阈值进行优化,以及运用蚁群系统算法寻找最短路径.新算法对于蚂蚁算法中的参数调整大大减低,减少了大量盲目的实验,力求在开发最优解和探究搜索空间上找到平衡点.对旅行商问题的仿真实验表明,新算法的优化质量和效率都优于传统蚁群算法和遗传算法,接近理论最佳值.新算法也可推广用于其他NP问题的求解.     

A comparative study of optimization algorithms for low NOx combustion modification at a coal-fired utility boiler

NOx emissions from power plants pose terrible threat to the surrounding environment. The aim of this work is to achieve low NOx emissions form a coal-fired utility boiler by using combustion optimization. Support vector regression (SVR) was proposed in the first stage to model the relation between NOx emissions and operational parameters of the utility boiler. The grid search method, by comparing with GA, was preferably chosen as the approach for the selection of SVR’s parameters. A mass of NOx emissions data from the utility boiler was employed to build the SVR model. The predicted NOx emissions from SVR model were in good agreement with the measured. In the second stage, two variants of ant colony optimization (ACO) as well as genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) were employed to find the optimum operating parameters to reduce the NOx emissions. The results show that the hybrid algorithm by combining SVR and optimization algorithms with the exception of PSO can effectively reduce NOx emissions of the coal-fired utility boiler below the legislation requirement of China. Comparison among various algorithms shows the performance of the well-designed ACO outperforms those of classical GA and PSO in terms of the quality of solution and the convergence rate.     

Novel hybrid optimization algorithm using PSO and MADS for the trajectory estimation of a four track wheel skid-steered mobile robot

Several optimization algorithms, such as the particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and ant colony optimization, have previously been applied in order to reliably obtain more accurate trajectory estimation for mobile robot. However, these optimization algorithms can get easily trapped in local optima when solving a complex system, which has many local optima and many input variables. This paper proposes a novel hybrid optimization algorithm-based tuning of the extended Kalman filter, which involves the PSO and mesh adaptive direct search algorithms, prior to operation. As demonstrated by our experimental results, the advantages of the novel hybrid optimization algorithm resolve the limitations of other algorithms in the trajectory estimation of a four track wheel skid-steered mobile robot (4-TW SSMR).     

一种障碍环境下机器人路径规划的蚁群粒子群算法

针对机器人在障碍环境下寻找最优路径问题, 提出了一种障碍环境下机器人路径规划的蚁群粒子群算法.该方法有效地结合了粒子群算法和蚁群算法的优点, 采用栅格法进行环境建模, 利用粒子群算法的快速简洁等特点得到蚁群算法初始信息素分布, 以减少迭代次数, 加快算法的收敛速度; 同时利用蚁群算法之间的可并行性, 采用分布式技术实现蚂蚁之间的并行搜索, 求解精度高等优点, 求精确解. 仿真实验结果证明了该方法的有效性, 是机器人路径规划的一种较好的方法.     

Population declining ant colony optimization algorithm and its applications

Population declining ant colony optimization (PDACO) algorithm is proposed and applied to the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and multiuser detection in this paper. Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms have already successfully been used in combinatorial optimization, however, as the pheromone accumulates, we may not get a global optimum because it stops searching early. PDACO can enlarge searching range through increasing the initial population of the ant colony, and the population declines in successive iterations. So, the performance of PDACO is superior with the same computational complexity. PDACO is applied to TSP and multiuser detection. Via computer simulations it is shown that PDACO has better performance in solving these two problems than ACO algorithms.     

Solving the traveling salesman problem using cooperative genetic ant systems

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) is a classic problem of combinatorial optimization and has applications in planning, scheduling, and searching in many scientific and engineering fields. Ant colony optimization (ACO) has been successfully used to solve TSPs and many associated applications in the last two decades. However, ACO has problem in regularly reaching the global optimal solutions for TSPs due to enormity of the search space and numerous local optima within the space. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid algorithm, cooperative genetic ant system (CGAS) to deal with this problem. Unlike other previous studies that regarded GA as a sequential part of the whole searching process and only used the result from GA as the input to subsequent ACO iterations, this new approach combines both GA and ACO together in a cooperative manner to improve the performance of ACO for solving TSPs. The mutual information exchange between ACO and GA in the end of the current iteration ensures the selection of the best solutions for next iteration. This cooperative approach creates a better chance in reaching the global optimal solution because independent running of GA maintains a high level of diversity in next generation of solutions. Compared with results from other GA/ACO algorithms, our simulation shows that CGAS has superior performance over other GA and ACO algorithms for solving TSPs in terms of capability and consistency of achieving the global optimal solution, and quality of average optimal solutions, particularly for small TSPs.     

A fast recursive algorithm based on fuzzy 2-partition entropy approach for threshold selection

The fuzzy c-partition entropy approach for threshold selection is an effective approach for image segmentation. The approach models the image with a fuzzy c-partition, which is obtained using parameterized membership functions. The ideal threshold is determined by searching an optimal parameter combination of the membership functions such that the entropy of the fuzzy c-partition is maximized. It involves large computation when the number of parameters needed to determine the membership function increases. In this paper, a recursive algorithm is proposed for fuzzy 2-partition entropy method, where the membership function is selected as S-function and Z-function with three parameters. The proposed recursive algorithm eliminates many repeated computations, thereby reducing the computation complexity significantly. The proposed method is tested using several real images, and its processing time is compared with those of basic exhaustive algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), ant colony optimization (ACO) and simulated annealing (SA). Experimental results show that the proposed method is more effective than basic exhaustive search algorithm, GA, PSO, ACO and SA.     

基于群集智能算法的移动机器人路径规划研究

本文提出一种新的群集智能算法,在用Dijkstra算法基于链接图建模的地图中得到一个最优解的可行空间后,再用粒子群算法或蚂蚁算法优化得到全局的最优路径。因为群集智能算法是一种概率搜索算法,没有集中控制约束条件,不会因为个别个体的故障影响整个问题的求解,具有较强的鲁棒性,所以在机器人全局路径规划应用中具有较显著的优点。仿真结果表明了算法的有效性,是机器人路径规划的一个较好的方法。     

Time series prediction using PSO-optimized neural network and hybrid feature selection algorithm for IEEE load data

Artificial neural networks have been widely used in time series prediction. In this paper, multi-layer feedforward neural networks with optimized structures, using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, are used for hourly load prediction based on load time series of IEEE Reliability Test System. To have a small and appropriate feature subset, a hybrid method is used for feature selection in this paper. This hybrid method uses the combination of genetic algorithm (GA) and ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. The season, day of the week, time of the day and history load are considered as load influencing factors in this study based on the mentioned standard load dataset. The optimized number of neurons in the hidden layers of multi-layer perceptron (MLP) is determined using PSO algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid model offers superior performance, in terms of mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), in time series prediction as compared to some recent researches in this field.     

An effective ant colony optimization algorithm for multi-objective job-shop scheduling with equal-size lot-splitting

This paper proposes several novel hybrid ant colony optimization (ACO)-based algorithms to resolve multi-objective job-shop scheduling problem with equal-size lot splitting. The main issue discussed in this paper is lot-splitting of jobs and tradeoff between lot-splitting costs and makespan. One of the disadvantages of ACO is its uncertainty on time of convergence. In order to enrich search patterns of ACO and improve its performance, five enhancements are made in the proposed algorithms including: A new type of pheromone and greedy heuristic function; Three new functions of state transition rules; A nimble local search algorithm for the improvements of solution quality; Mutation mechanism for divisive searching; A particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based algorithm for adaptive tuning of parameters. The objectives that are used to measure the quality of the generated schedules are weighted-sum of makespan, tardiness of jobs and lot-splitting cost. The developed algorithms are analyzed extensively on real-world data obtained from a printing company and simulated data. A mathematical programming model is developed and paired-samples t-tests are performed between obtained solutions of mathematical programming model and proposed algorithms in order to verify effectiveness of proposed algorithms.     

Haptic assisted aircraft optimal assembly path planning scheme based on swarming and artificial potential field approach

In this research, a novel near optimum automated rigid aircraft engine parts assembly path planning algorithm based on particle swarm optimization approach is proposed to solve the obstacle free assembly path planning process in a 3d haptic assisted environment. 3d path planning using valid assembly sequence information was optimized by combining particle swarm optimization algorithm enhanced by the potential field path planning concepts. Furthermore, the presented approach was compared with traditional particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) and genetic algorithm (CGA). Simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm has faster convergence rate towards the optimal solution and less computation time when compared with existing algorithms based on genetics and ant colony approach. To confirm the optimality of the proposed algorithm, it was further experimented in a haptic guided environment, where the users were assisted with haptic active guidance feature to perform the process opting the optimized assembly path. It was observed that the haptic guidance feature further reduced the overall task completion time.     

基数约束投资组合问题的一种混合元启发式算法求解

针对资产数目和投资资金比例受约束的投资组合选择这一NP难问题,基于混沌搜索、粒子群优化和引力搜索算法提出了一种新的混合元启发式搜索算法。该算法能很好地平衡开发能力和勘探能力,有效抑制了算法早熟收敛现象。标准测试函数的测试结果表明混合算法与标准的粒子群优化和引力搜索算法相比具有更好的寻优效率;实证分析进一步对混合算法与遗传算法及粒子群优化算法在求解这类投资组合选择问题的性能进行了比较。数值结果表明,混合算法在搜索具有高预期回报的非支配投资组合方面表现更好,取得了更为满意的结果。     

求解旅行商问题的混合粒子群优化算法

结合遗传算法、蚁群算法和模拟退火算法的思想，提出用混合粒子群算法来求解著名的旅行商问题．与模拟退火算法、标准遗传算法进行比较，24种混合粒子群算法的效果都比较好，其中交叉策略D和变异策略F的混合粒子群算法的效果最好，而且简单有效．对于目前仍没有较好解法的组合优化问题，通过此算法修改很容易解决．     

基于粒子群蚁群算法的供应链合作伙伴选择研究

针对供应链合作伙伴选择的准确性和效率问题,提出一种基于粒子群和蚁群优化的合作伙伴选择算法。建立基于供应链链节体和连接弧的有向图路径模型,构造多目标规划模型。利用改进的离散型粒子群算法,求取伙伴选择问题的初始解集,构建初始信息素矩阵,通过改进蚁群算法的寻径规则,求取供应链合作伙伴选择问题的最优解。实验结果表明,所提算法有效提高了供应链合作伙伴选择的精度和效率,具有较好的性能。     

求解TSP问题的一种改进蚁群算法

TSP问题是典型的NP—hard组合优化问题,用蚁群算法求解此问题存在搜索时间长,容易陷入局部最优解的不足。本文提出了一种改进的蚁群算法。该算法在蚁群算法中植入遗传算法,利用遗传算法生成信息素的分布,克服了蚁群算法中搜索时间长的缺陷。此外,在蚁群算法寻优中,采用交叉和变异的策略,改善了TSP解的质量。仿真结果显示,改进的蚁群算法是有效的。