Comparative Performance of Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing Heuristics for the Quadratic Assignment Problem

For almost two decades the question of whether tabu search (TS) or simulated annealing (SA) performs better for the quadratic assignment problem has been unresolved. To answer this question satisfactorily, we compare performance at various values of targeted solution quality, running each heuristic at its optimal number of iterations for each target. We find that for a number of varied problem instances, SA performs better for higher quality targets while TS performs better for lower quality targets

Anisotropic selection in cellular genetic algorithms

In this paper we introduce a new selection scheme in cellular genetic algorithms (cGAs). Anisotropic Selection (AS) promotes diversity and allows accurate control of the selective pressure. First we compare this new scheme with the classical rectangular grid shapes solution according to the selective pressure: we can obtain the same takeover time with the two techniques although the spreading of the best individual is different. We then give experimental results that show to what extent AS promotes the emergence of niches that support low coupling and high cohesion. Finally, using a cGA with anisotropic selection on a Quadratic Assignment Problem we show the existence of an anisotropic optimal value for which the best average performance is observed. Further work will focus on the selective pressure self-adjustment ability provided by this new selection scheme

PasMoQAP: A Parallel Asynchronous Memetic Algorithm for solving the Multi-Objective Quadratic Assignment Problem

Multi-Objective Optimization Problems (MOPs) have attracted growing attention during the last decades. Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) have been extensively used to address MOPs because are able to approximate a set of non-dominated high-quality solutions. The Multi-Objective Quadratic Assignment Problem (mQAP) is a MOP. The mQAP is a generalization of the classical QAP which has been extensively studied, and used in several real-life applications. The mQAP is defined as having as input several flows between the facilities which generate multiple cost functions that must be optimized simultaneously. In this study, we propose PasMoQAP, a parallel asynchronous memetic algorithm to solve the Multi-Objective Quadratic Assignment Problem. PasMoQAP is based on an island model that structures the population by creating sub-populations. The memetic algorithm on each island individually evolve a reduced population of solutions, and they asynchronously cooperate by sending selected solutions to the neighboring islands. The experimental results show that our approach significatively outperforms all the island-based variants of the multi-objective evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II. We show that PasMoQAP is a suitable alternative to solve the Multi-Objective Quadratic Assignment Problem.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted at Conference on Evolutionary Computation 2017 (CEC 2017

Applications of Bee Colony Optimization

Many computationally difficult problems are attacked using non-exact algorithms, such as approximation algorithms and heuristics. This thesis investigates an ex- ample of the latter, Bee Colony Optimization, on both an established optimization problem in the form of the Quadratic Assignment Problem and the FireFighting problem, which has not been studied before as an optimization problem. Bee Colony Optimization is a swarm intelligence algorithm, a paradigm that has increased in popularity in recent years, and many of these algorithms are based on natural pro- cesses. We tested the Bee Colony Optimization algorithm on the QAPLIB library of Quadratic Assignment Problem instances, which have either optimal or best known solutions readily available, and enabled us to compare the quality of solutions found by the algorithm. In addition, we implemented a couple of other well known algorithms for the Quadratic Assignment Problem and consequently we could analyse the runtime of our algorithm. We introduce the Bee Colony Optimization algorithm for the FireFighting problem. We also implement some greedy algorithms and an Ant Colony Optimization al- gorithm for the FireFighting problem, and compare the results obtained on some randomly generated instances. We conclude that Bee Colony Optimization finds good solutions for the Quadratic Assignment Problem, however further investigation on speedup methods is needed to improve its performance to that of other algorithms. In addition, Bee Colony Optimization is effective on small instances of the FireFighting problem, however as instance size increases the results worsen in comparison to the greedy algorithms, and more work is needed to improve the decisions made on these instances

Parallel Hybrid Trajectory Based Metaheuristics for Real-World Problems

G. Luque, E. Alba, Parallel Hybrid Trajectory Based Metaheuristics for Real-World Problems, In Proceedings of Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems, pp. 184-191, 2-4 September, 2015, Taipei, Taiwan, IEEE PressThis paper proposes a novel algorithm combining path relinking with a set of cooperating trajectory based parallel algorithms to yield a new metaheuristic of enhanced search features. Algorithms based on the exploration of the neighborhood of a single solution, like simulated annealing (SA), have offered accurate results for a large number of real-world problems in the past. Because of their trajectory based nature, some advanced models such as the cooperative one are competitive in academic problems, but still show many limitations in addressing large scale instances. In addition, the field of parallel models for trajectory methods has not deeply been studied yet (at least in comparison with parallel population based models). In this work, we propose a new hybrid algorithm which improves cooperative single solution techniques by using path relinking, allowing both to reduce the global execution time and to improve the efficacy of the method. We applied here this new model using a large benchmark of instances of two real-world NP-hard problems: DNA fragment assembly and QAP problems, with competitive results.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Coordination of Mobile Mules via Facility Location Strategies

In this paper, we study the problem of wireless sensor network (WSN) maintenance using mobile entities called mules. The mules are deployed in the area of the WSN in such a way that would minimize the time it takes them to reach a failed sensor and fix it. The mules must constantly optimize their collective deployment to account for occupied mules. The objective is to define the optimal deployment and task allocation strategy for the mules, so that the sensors' downtime and the mules' traveling distance are minimized. Our solutions are inspired by research in the field of computational geometry and the design of our algorithms is based on state of the art approximation algorithms for the classical problem of facility location. Our empirical results demonstrate how cooperation enhances the team's performance, and indicate that a combination of k-Median based deployment with closest-available task allocation provides the best results in terms of minimizing the sensors' downtime but is inefficient in terms of the mules' travel distance. A k-Centroid based deployment produces good results in both criteria.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, conferenc