An ant colony optimization based memetic algorithm for the dynamic travelling salesman problem

Abstract

Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms have proved to be able to adapt for solving dynamic optimization problems (DOPs). The integration of local search algorithms has also proved to significantly improve the output of ACO algorithms. However, almost all previous works consider stationary environments. In this paper, the MAX-MIN Ant System, one of the best ACO variations, is integrated with the unstringing and stringing (US) local search operator for the dynamic travelling salesman problem (DTSP). The best solution constructed by ACO is passed to the US operator for local search improvements. The proposed memetic algorithm aims to combine the adaptation capabilities of ACO for DOPs and the superior performance of the US operator on the static travelling salesman problem in order to tackle the DTSP. The experiments show that the MAX-MIN Ant System is able to provide good initial solutions to US and the proposed algorithm outperforms other peer ACO-based memetic algorithms on different DTSPs.