An ant colony optimisation algorithm for scheduling in agile manufacturing

Producing customised products in a short time at low cost is one of the goals of agile manufacturing. To achieve this goal an assembly-driven differentiation strategy has been proposed in the agile manufacturing literature. In this paper, we address a manufacturing system that applies the assembly-driven differentiation strategy. The system consists of machining and assembly stages, where there is a single machine at the machining stage and multiple identical assembly stations at the assembly stage. An ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm is developed for solving the scheduling problem of determining the sequence of parts to be produced in the system so as to minimise the maximum completion time (or makespan). The ACO algorithm uses a new dispatching rule as the heuristic desirability and variable neighbourhood search as the local search to make it more efficient and effective. To evaluate the performance of heuristic algorithms, a branch-and-bound procedure is proposed for deriving the optimal solution to the problem. Computational results show that the proposed ACO algorithm is superior to the existing algorithm, not only improving the performance but also decreasing the computation time.     

A genetic algorithm-based optimisation model for performance parameters of manufacturing tasks in constructing virtual enterprises

The performance parameters of the manufacturing tasks (PPMT) are considered as the key parameters in constructing virtual enterprises (VE). It is difficult to determine the optimal or near-optimal values of PPMT. In this paper, the optimisation process in VE is perceived as a bidirectional optimisation process which consists of the forward and reverse process. By analysing the process, a reverse optimisation model based on vector norm theory is proposed and the target function is defined as a formula of the sum of the weighting Euclidean distance between two PPMT vectors. The existence of optimisation solution for the problem is investigated. Then an adaptive genetic algorithm based on natural number encoding is developed to solve the problem. A practical example is implemented to verify the validity of the proposed model and approach. The discussed results show that the optimal or near-optimal PPMT is helpful for the candidate enterprises selection in the process of constructing a VE.     

Spatial scheduling strategy for irregular curved blocks based on the modified genetic ant colony algorithm (MGACA) in shipbuilding

This paper proposes a scheduling strategy for irregular curved blocks to address the complex spatiotemporal coupling scheduling problem related to the entered time, the entered sequence, the setting positions and the rotated angles for the curved blocks in a shipbuilding yard. The strategy presents a makespan-based curved blocks – classification and selection rule to fulfil the programming time for the entry of the curved blocks into the workplace and realises the suppression on the delay. Useless stepping search of curved blocks in occupied workplace is avoided by combining the lowest centre-of-gravity rule with the calculation method of the remained workplace proposed in this paper. A modified genetic ant colony algorithm was proposed, which apply the ease to premature characteristics of GA and the excellent local optimisation ability of ACO, to let and promote the algorithm falls into local optimum. Then the large-scale and full-range mutation will be implemented to make the algorithm jump out of the original local optimisation to search more local optimal solutions so that the global optimal solution can be achieved. Finally, a software system for algorithm verification was developed which conducts the comparative analysis of the algorithms and verifies the validity of the algorithm proposed.     

Identification of the domain of opportunities for a market of resources for virtual enterprise integration

In the aggressive and competitive business environment of today, enterprises are expected to achieve competitive advantages in synergy, under the format of reconfigurable global networked structures, such as the virtual enterprise (VE) organizational model, integrating the optimal resources (products, operations, services) for each of the functions that the enterprise undertakes, in order to produce a product that meets the market requirements. The literature shows that several Internet-based tools can be used to enable some activities of VE integration. However, as we demonstrate, these do not support the reconfiguration dynamics required by this organizational model. Alternatively, the authors propose the market of resources (MR) as an environment to fully support VE integration, coping with its intrinsic requirement of high reconfigurability. Based on a demonstrator developed for the MR and on cost models traducing VE integration, one for the (traditional) Internet-based tools and the other for the MR, to support an analytical simulation, the paper validates the thesis that the traditional tools cannot support agility and dynamics, presenting the MR as a VE enabler, and identifying the domain of situations where the utilization of the MR reveals increased efficiency in terms of search and selection time and cost—designated as opportunities domain.     

OPTIMAL STRUCTURAL DESIGN BY ANT COLONY OPTIMIZATION

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a relatively new heuristic combinatorial optimization algorithm in which the search process is a stochastic procedure that incorporates positive feedback of accumulated information. The positive feedback (;i.e., autocatalysis) facility is a feature of ACO which gives an emergent search procedure such that the (common) problem of algorithm termination at local optima may be avoided and search for a global optimum is possible.

The ACO algorithm is motivated by analogy with natural phenomena, in particular, the ability of a colony of ants to ‘optimize’ their collective endeavours. In this paper the biological background for ACO is explained and its computational implementation is presented in a structural design context. The particular implementation of ACO makes use of a tabu search (TS) local improvement phase to give a computationally enhanced algorithm (ACOTS).

In this paper ACOTS is applied to the optimal structural design, in terms of weight minimization, of a 25-bar space truss. The design variables are the cross-sectional areas of the bars, which take discrete values. Numerical investigation of the 25-bar space truss gave the best (i.e., lowest to-date) minimum weight value. This example provides evidence that ACOTS is a useful and technically viable optimization technique for discrete-variable optimal structural design.     

基于智能混合策略的测试集优化

利用基于粒子群和蚁群算法的智能混合优化策略,删除冗余测试向量以解决测试集的优化问题. 利用蚁群算法的并行搜索能力构造初始解集,通过粒子群优化算法将解集维数降低,确定每次迭代的个体最优解和全局最优解,并利用新粒子信息更新信息素,最终通过多次迭代找到一个或多个最优测试集. 通过多组数据实例分析可知: 该智能混合优化策略与蚁群算法等其他测试集优化算法相比,可得到多个可行性最优测试集;与蚁群算法相比可提高收敛速度,并降低蚁群算法参数选取对收敛结果的影响,从而避免次优解的出现.     

交叉变异的连续蚁群优化算法

研究了应用于连续空间优化问题的蚁群算法,给出了信息素的留存方式以及搜索策略.另外,针对蚁群算法易陷入局部最优的缺点,在最优蚂蚁周围进行了精细搜索,并加入了自适应的交叉变异算子,从而改进了蚁群算法的全局优化性能.数值仿真结果表明,该算法是一种有效的优化算法.     

基于改进免疫遗传优化蚁群算法的移动机器人路径寻优研究

针对移动机器人路径规划中使用蚁群算法(ACO)易陷入局部最优和收敛速度慢的问题,提出了一种适用于机器人静态路径寻优的改进免疫遗传优化蚁群算法(IMGAC)。该算法可以根据实际情况自动调整变异概率和变异方式,以及自动调节个体免疫位的长度,将通过改进的变异算子和免疫算子嵌入蚁群算法来提高全局寻优能力与收敛速度。仿真及实验表明:相比于经典ACO算法以及最大最小蚂蚁系统,IMGAC算法收敛速度更快,全局寻优能力更强。利用该算法寻找移动机器人最优路径,提高了静态路径寻优的效果和效率。     

混合蝙蝠算法在包装废弃物逆向物流中的应用

目的为了提高蝙蝠算法(BA)求解包装废弃物逆向物流问题的性能。方法在标准BA算法的基础上提出混合蝙蝠算法(HBA)。首先,构建新型蝙蝠表达式,使BA算法适用于包装废弃物逆向物流问题的求解。其次,引入自适应惯性权重,改造蝙蝠速度更新公式;然后,引入粒子群算法(PSO),对每次迭代中任一随机蝙蝠进行粒子群操作;最后,利用HBA算法对企业实例和标准算例进行仿真测试。结果企业最优回收距离为776.63 km。与遗传算法(GA)、蚁群算法(ACO)和禁忌搜索算法(TS)相比,HBA算法能够求得已知最优解的标准算例个数最多为6个,求得最好解与已知最优解的平均误差最小为8.58%,平均运行时间最短为4.39s。结论 HBA算法的全局寻优能力、稳定性和运行速度均优于GA算法、ACO算法和TS算法。     

MSEs Credit Risk Assessment Model Based on Federated Learning and Feature Selection

Federated learning has been used extensively in business innovation scenarios in various industries. This research adopts the federated learning approach for the first time to address the issue of bank-enterprise information asymmetry in the credit assessment scenario. First, this research designs a credit risk assessment model based on federated learning and feature selection for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) using multi-dimensional enterprise data and multi-perspective enterprise information. The proposed model includes four main processes: namely encrypted entity alignment, hybrid feature selection, secure multi-party computation, and global model updating. Secondly, a two-step feature selection algorithm based on wrapper and filter is designed to construct the optimal feature set in multi-source heterogeneous data, which can provide excellent accuracy and interpretability. In addition, a local update screening strategy is proposed to select trustworthy model parameters for aggregation each time to ensure the quality of the global model. The results of the study show that the model error rate is reduced by 6.22% and the recall rate is improved by 11.03% compared to the algorithms commonly used in credit risk research, significantly improving the ability to identify defaulters. Finally, the business operations of commercial banks are used to confirm the potential of the proposed model for real-world implementation.     

Optimum drilling path planning for a rectangular matrix of holes using ant colony optimisation

This paper investigates optimum path planning for CNC drilling machines for a special class of products that involve a large number of holes arranged in a rectangular matrix. Examples of such products include boiler plates, drum and trammel screens, connection flanges in steel structures, food-processing separators, as well as certain portions of printed circuit boards. While most commercial CAD software packages include modules that allow for automated generation of the CNC code, the tool path planning generated from the commercial CAD software is often not fully optimised in terms of the tool travel distance, and ultimately, the total machining time. This is mainly due to the fact that minimisation of the tool travel distance is a travelling salesman problem (TSP). The TSP is a hard problem in the discrete programming context with no known general solution that can be obtained in polynomial time. Several heuristic optimisation algorithms have been applied in the literature to the TSP, with varying levels of success. Among the most successful algorithms for TSP is the ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm, which mimics the behaviour of ants in nature. The research in this paper applies the ACO algorithm to the path planning of a CNC drilling tool between holes in a rectangular matrix. In order to take advantage of the rectangular layout of the holes, two modifications to the basic ACO algorithm are proposed. Simulation case studies show that the average discovered path via the modified ACO algorithms exhibit significant reduction in the total tool travel distance compared to the basic ACO algorithm or a typical genetic algorithm.     

A novel parameter estimation method for metal oxide surge arrester models

Accurate modelling and exact determination of Metal Oxide (MO) surge arrester parameters are very important for arrester allocation, insulation coordination studies and systems reliability calculations. In this paper, a new technique, which is the combination of Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithms and linking the MATLAB and EMTP, is proposed to estimate the parameters of MO surge arrester models. The proposed algorithm is named Modified Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (MAPSO). In the proposed algorithm, to overcome the drawback of the PSO algorithm (convergence to local optima), the inertia weight is tuned by using fuzzy rules and the cognitive and the social parameters are self-adaptively adjusted. Also, to improve the global search capability and prevent the convergence to local minima, ACO algorithm is combined to the proposed APSO algorithm. The transient models of MO surge arrester have been simulated by using ATP-EMTP. The results of simulations have been applied to the program, which is based on MAPSO algorithm and can determine the fitness and parameters of different models. The validity and the accuracy of estimated parameters of surge arrester models are assessed by comparing the predicted residual voltage with experimental results.     

Aircraft technology portfolio optimization using ant colony optimization

Technology portfolio selection is a combinatorial optimization problem often faced with a large number of combinations and technology incompatibilities. The main research question addressed in this article is to determine if Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is better suited than Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Simulated Annealing (SA) for technology portfolio optimization when incompatibility constraints between technologies are present. Convergence rate, capability to find optima, and efficiency in handling of incompatibilities are the three criteria of comparison. The application problem consists of finding the best technology portfolio from 29 aircraft technologies. The results show that ACO and GAs converge faster and find optima more easily than SA, and that ACO can optimize portfolios with technology incompatibilities without using penalty functions. This latter finding paves the way for more use of ACO when the number of constraints increases, such as in the technology and concept selection for complex engineering systems.     

Performance of an ant colony optimisation algorithm in dynamic job shop scheduling problems

The goal of the current study is to identify appropriate application domains of Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO) in the area of dynamic job shop scheduling problem. The algorithm is tested in a shop floor scenario with three levels of machine utilisations, three different processing time distributions, and three different performance measures for intermediate scheduling problems. The steady-state performances of ACO in terms of mean flow time, mean tardiness, total throughput on different experimental environments are compared with those from dispatching rules including first-in-first-out, shortest processing time, and minimum slack time. Two series of experiments are carried out to identify the best ACO strategy and the best performing dispatching rule. Those two approaches are thereafter compared with different variations of processing times. The experimental results show that ACO outperforms other approaches when the machine utilisation or the variation of processing times is not high.     

包装物回收物流中的车辆路径优化问题

目的提高遗传算法(GA)求解包装物回收车辆路径优化问题的性能。方法通过对传统GA算法的改进,提出混合蜂群遗传算法(HBGA)。首先改进传统GA算法的初始种群生成方式,设计初始种群混合生成算子;其次,提出最大保留交叉算子,对优秀子路径进行保护;然后,在上述改进的基础上引入蜜蜂进化机制,用以保证种群多样性和优秀个体特征信息的利用程度;最后,对标准算例集进行仿真测试。结果与传统GA算法相比,HBGA算法在全局寻优能力、算法稳定性和运行速度方面均有所改善。HBGA算法的全局寻优能力和算法稳定性均优于粒子群算法(PSO)、蚁群算法(ACO)和禁忌搜索算法(TS),但运行速度稍慢于TS算法。结论对传统GA算法的改进是合理的,且HBGA算法整体求解性能优于PSO算法、ACO算法和TS算法。     

Traffic Management in Internet of Vehicles Using Improved Ant Colony Optimization

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a networking paradigm related to the intercommunication of vehicles using a network. In a dynamic network, one of the key challenges in IoV is traffic management under increasing vehicles to avoid congestion. Therefore, optimal path selection to route traffic between the origin and destination is vital. This research proposed a realistic strategy to reduce traffic management service response time by enabling real-time content distribution in IoV systems using heterogeneous network access. Firstly, this work proposed a novel use of the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm and formulated the path planning optimization problem as an Integer Linear Program (ILP). This integrates the future estimation metric to predict the future arrivals of the vehicles, searching the optimal routes. Considering the mobile nature of IOV, fuzzy logic is used for congestion level estimation along with the ACO to determine the optimal path. The model results indicate that the suggested scheme outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods by identifying the shortest and most cost-effective path. Thus, this work strongly supports its use in applications having stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for the vehicles.     

ACO–EEOLSR: enhanced energy model based link stability routing protocol in mobile ad hoc networks

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) has abundant mobile nodes that are free to communicate independently in many locations. Many existing energy models address the inadequacy of resources based on Ad hoc On-demand Multipath Distance Vector and Optimized Link State Protocol (OLSP) routing protocols for MANET along with various parameters. The architecture of energy-efficient routing mechanisms is a challenging problem in a MANET. In this work, a novel energy-aware routing model is introduced for MANET comprising an ant colony optimization (ACO) enhanced approach to energy-efficient-optimized link state routing (named ACO–EEOLSR). Initially, the route discovery is progressed by means of neighbor estimation and also with the authentication of link stability. Parameters such as energy, distance, and hop count are employed as willingness nodes, where both the energy and distance are entrenched through the OLSP. Consequently, the hop count is applied via the ACO system that is beneficial for link stability. After the acceptance of an acknowledgement, the hop count is authorized for further performance analysis. This approach increases the Quality of Service and also uses less energy compared to other energy models. The accomplished simulation upshot depicts that the ACO–EEOLSR outperforms the EEOLSR scheme with respect to the performance metrics of energy consumption, packet delivery ratio, total remaining time, average network lifetime, and a variance of energy.     

Open shop scheduling problem with a multi-skills resource constraint: a genetic algorithm and an ant colony optimisation approach

The continuous evolution of manufacturing environments leads to a more efficient production process that controls an increasing number of parameters. Production resources usually represent an important constraint in a manufacturing activity, specially talking about the management of human resources and their skills. In order to study the impact of this subject, this paper considers an open shop scheduling problem based on a mechanical production workshop to minimise the total flow time including a multi-skill resource constraint. Then, we count with a number of workers that have a versatility to carry out different tasks, and according to their assignment a schedule is generated. In that way, we have formulated the problem as a linear as and a non-linear mathematical model which applies the classic scheduling constraints, adding some different resources constraints related to personnel staff competences and their availability to execute one task. In addition, we introduce a genetic algorithm and an ant colony optimisation (ACO) method to solve large size problems. Finally, the best method (ACO) has been used to solve a real industrial case that is presented at the end.     

Solving partner selection problem in cyber-physical production networks using the HUMANT algorithm

The idea of non-hierarchical production networks consisting of autonomous enterprises has been present in scientific community for more than 20 years. Although some global corporations are using their own production networks across continents, they are not similar to the original idea of non-hierarchical production networks in many aspects. It seems that this idea waited for production systems to acquire proper information and communications technology (ICT) or new industrial platforms, like Industry 4.0. The result is a new type of production network called Cyber-Physical Production Network (CPPN). The CPPN is, from ICT point of view, ready to act as non-hierarchical production networks consisting of autonomous production systems with many automated processes. One of the most important processes of the CPPN is a selection of optimal partners (enterprises) to be part of a new virtual enterprise, created inside production network. An optimisation problem emerges in this process, and it is called Partner Selection Problem (PSP). It is non-polynomial-hard combinatorial problem. Since metaheuristic algorithms are well-proven in solving that kind of problem, a specially designed metaheuristic algorithm derived from ant colony optimisation and named the HUMANT (HUManoid ANT) algorithm is used in this paper. It is multi-objective optimisation algorithm that successfully solves different instances of PSP with two, three, four or more objectives.     

Multiple colony ant algorithm for job-shop scheduling problem

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a metaheuristic that takes inspiration from the foraging behaviour of a real ant colony to solve the optimization problem. This paper presents a multiple colony ant algorithm to solve the Job-shop Scheduling Problem with the objective that minimizes the makespan. In a multiple colony ant algorithm, ants cooperate to find good solutions by exchanging information among colonies which are stored in a master pheromone matrix that serves the role of global memory. The exploration of the search space in each colony is guided by different heuristic information. Several specific features are introduced in the algorithm in order to improve the efficiency of the search. Among others is the local search method by which the ant can fine-tune their neighbourhood solutions. The proposed algorithm is tested over set of benchmark problems and the computational results demonstrate that the multiple colony ant algorithm performs well on the benchmark problems.