We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and c...We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and comprehensive workflow that utilizes the quantum approximate optimization algorithm(QAOA).It facilitates the automatic conversion of the original problem into a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization(QUBO)model and its corresponding Ising model,which can be subsequently transformed into a weight graph.The core of Qcover relies on a graph decomposition-based classical algorithm,which efficiently derives the optimal parameters for the shallow QAOA circuit.Quafu-Qcover incorporates a dedicated compiler capable of translating QAOA circuits into physical quantum circuits that can be executed on Quafu cloud quantum computers.Compared to a general-purpose compiler,our compiler demonstrates the ability to generate shorter circuit depths,while also exhibiting superior speed performance.Additionally,the Qcover compiler has the capability to dynamically create a library of qubits coupling substructures in real-time,utilizing the most recent calibration data from the superconducting quantum devices.This ensures that computational tasks can be assigned to connected physical qubits with the highest fidelity.The Quafu-Qcover allows us to retrieve quantum computing sampling results using a task ID at any time,enabling asynchronous processing.Moreover,it incorporates modules for results preprocessing and visualization,facilitating an intuitive display of solutions for combinatorial optimization problems.We hope that Quafu-Qcover can serve as an instructive illustration for how to explore application problems on the Quafu cloud quantum computers.展开更多
The optimization of polymer structures aims to determine an optimal sequence or topology that achieves a given target property or structural performance.This inverse design problem involves searching within a vast com...The optimization of polymer structures aims to determine an optimal sequence or topology that achieves a given target property or structural performance.This inverse design problem involves searching within a vast combinatorial phase space defined by components,se-quences,and topologies,and is often computationally intractable due to its NP-hard nature.At the core of this challenge lies the need to evalu-ate complex correlations among structural variables,a classical problem in both statistical physics and combinatorial optimization.To address this,we adopt a mean-field approach that decouples direct variable-variable interactions into effective interactions between each variable and an auxiliary field.The simulated bifurcation(SB)algorithm is employed as a mean-field-based optimization framework.It constructs a Hamiltonian dynamical system by introducing generalized momentum fields,enabling efficient decoupling and dynamic evolution of strongly coupled struc-tural variables.Using the sequence optimization of a linear copolymer adsorbing on a solid surface as a case study,we demonstrate the applica-bility of the SB algorithm to high-dimensional,non-differentiable combinatorial optimization problems.Our results show that SB can efficiently discover polymer sequences with excellent adsorption performance within a reasonable computational time.Furthermore,it exhibits robust con-vergence and high parallel scalability across large design spaces.The approach developed in this work offers a new computational pathway for polymer structure optimization.It also lays a theoretical foundation for future extensions to topological design problems,such as optimizing the number and placement of side chains,as well as the co-optimization of sequence and topology.展开更多
This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Auto...This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Automata （MDFA） is defined. MDFA allows the representation of the feasible solutions space of combinatorial problems. Second, it is defined and implemented a metaheuritic based on MDFA theory. It is named Metaheuristic of Deterministic Swapping （MODS）. MODS is a local search strategy that works using a MDFA. Due to this, MODS never take into account unfeasible solutions. Hence, it is not necessary to verify the problem constraints for a new solution found. Lastly, MODS is tested using well know instances of the Bi-Objective Traveling Salesman Problem （TSP） from TSPLIB. Its results were compared with eight Ant Colony inspired algorithms and two Genetic algorithms taken from the specialized literature. The comparison was made using metrics such as Spacing, Generational Distance, Inverse Generational Distance and No-Dominated Generation Vectors. In every case, the MODS results on the metrics were always better and in some of those cases, the superiority was 100%.展开更多
Traveling salesman problem(TSP) is one of the typical NP-hard problems, and it has been used in many engineering applications. However, the previous swarm intelligence(SI) based algorithms for TSP cannot coordinate wi...Traveling salesman problem(TSP) is one of the typical NP-hard problems, and it has been used in many engineering applications. However, the previous swarm intelligence(SI) based algorithms for TSP cannot coordinate with the exploration and exploitation abilities and are easily trapped into local optimum. In order to deal with this situation, a new hybrid optimization algorithm based on wolf pack search and local search(WPS-LS)is proposed for TSP. The new method firstly simulates the predatory process of wolf pack from the broad field to a specific place so that it allows for a search through all possible solution spaces and prevents wolf individuals from getting trapped into local optimum. Then, local search operation is used in the algorithm to improve the speed of solving and the accuracy of solution. The test of benchmarks selected from TSPLIB shows that the results obtained by this algorithm are better and closer to the theoretical optimal values with better robustness than those obtained by other methods.展开更多
Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal so...Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal solutions are usually difficult to solve.Therefore,great attention has been attracted to the algorithms of searching the globally optimal solution or near-optimal solution for the combinatorial optimization problems.As a typical combinatorial optimization problem,the traveling salesman problem(TSP)often serves as a touchstone for novel approaches.It has been found that natural systems,particularly brain nervous systems,work at the critical region between order and disorder,namely,on the edge of chaos.In this work,an algorithm for the combinatorial optimization problems is proposed based on the neural networks on the edge of chaos(ECNN).The algorithm is then applied to TSPs of 10 cities,21 cities,48 cities and 70 cities.The results show that ECNN algorithm has strong ability to drive the networks away from local minimums.Compared with the transiently chaotic neural network(TCNN),the stochastic chaotic neural network(SCNN)algorithms and other optimization algorithms,much higher rates of globally optimal solutions and near-optimal solutions are obtained with ECNN algorithm.To conclude,our algorithm provides an effective way for solving the combinatorial optimization problems.展开更多
The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows(VRPTW)presents a significant challenge in combinatorial optimization,especially under real-world uncertainties such as variable travel times,service durations,and dynamic ...The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows(VRPTW)presents a significant challenge in combinatorial optimization,especially under real-world uncertainties such as variable travel times,service durations,and dynamic customer demands.These uncertainties make traditional deterministic models inadequate,often leading to suboptimal or infeasible solutions.To address these challenges,this work proposes an adaptive hybrid metaheuristic that integrates Genetic Algorithms(GA)with Local Search(LS),while incorporating stochastic uncertainty modeling through probabilistic travel times.The proposed algorithm dynamically adjusts parameters—such as mutation rate and local search probability—based on real-time search performance.This adaptivity enhances the algorithm’s ability to balance exploration and exploitation during the optimization process.Travel time uncertainties are modeled using Gaussian noise,and solution robustness is evaluated through scenario-based simulations.We test our method on a set of benchmark problems from Solomon’s instance suite,comparing its performance under deterministic and stochastic conditions.Results show that the proposed hybrid approach achieves up to a 9%reduction in expected total travel time and a 40% reduction in time window violations compared to baseline methods,including classical GA and non-adaptive hybrids.Additionally,the algorithm demonstrates strong robustness,with lower solution variance across uncertainty scenarios,and converges faster than competing approaches.These findings highlight the method’s suitability for practical logistics applications such as last-mile delivery and real-time transportation planning,where uncertainty and service-level constraints are critical.The flexibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework make it a promising candidate for deployment in dynamic,uncertainty-aware supply chain environments.展开更多
Currently,the industry is experiencing an exponential increase in dealing with binary-based combinatorial problems.In this sense,metaheuristics have been a common trend in the field in order to design approaches to so...Currently,the industry is experiencing an exponential increase in dealing with binary-based combinatorial problems.In this sense,metaheuristics have been a common trend in the field in order to design approaches to solve them successfully.Thus,a well-known strategy consists in the use of algorithms based on discrete swarms transformed to perform in binary environments.Following the No Free Lunch theorem,we are interested in testing the performance of the Fruit Fly Algorithm,this is a bio-inspired metaheuristic for deducing global optimization in continuous spaces,based on the foraging behavior of the fruit fly,which usually has much better sensory perception of smell and vision than any other species.On the other hand,the Set Coverage Problem is a well-known NP-hard problem with many practical applications,including production line balancing,utility installation,and crew scheduling in railroad and mass transit companies.In this paper,we propose different binarization methods for the Fruit Fly Algorithm,using Sshaped and V-shaped transfer functions and various discretization methods to make the algorithm work in a binary search space.We are motivated with this approach,because in this way we can deliver to future researchers interested in this area,a way to be able to work with continuous metaheuristics in binary domains.This new approach was tested on benchmark instances of the Set Coverage Problem and the computational results show that the proposed algorithm is robust enough to produce good results with low computational cost.展开更多
Traveling salesman problem(TSP)is a classic non-deterministic polynomial-hard optimization prob-lem.Based on the characteristics of self-organizing mapping(SOM)network,this paper proposes an improved SOM network from ...Traveling salesman problem(TSP)is a classic non-deterministic polynomial-hard optimization prob-lem.Based on the characteristics of self-organizing mapping(SOM)network,this paper proposes an improved SOM network from the perspectives of network update strategy,initialization method,and parameter selection.This paper compares the performance of the proposed algorithms with the performance of existing SOM network algorithms on the TSP and compares them with several heuristic algorithms.Simulations show that compared with existing SOM networks,the improved SOM network proposed in this paper improves the convergence rate and algorithm accuracy.Compared with iterated local search and heuristic algorithms,the improved SOM net-work algorithms proposed in this paper have the advantage of fast calculation speed on medium-scale TSP.展开更多
In this work, we present a multi-phase hybrid algorithm based on clustering to solve the multi-depots vehicle routing problem (MDVRP). The proposed algorithm initially adopts K-means algorithm to execute the clusterin...In this work, we present a multi-phase hybrid algorithm based on clustering to solve the multi-depots vehicle routing problem (MDVRP). The proposed algorithm initially adopts K-means algorithm to execute the clustering analyses, which take the depots as the centroids of the clusters, for the all customers of MDVRP, then implements the local depth search using the Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) for every cluster, and then globally re-adjusts the solutions, i.e., rectifies positions of all frogs by the extremal optimization (EO). The processes will continue until the convergence criterions are satisfied. The results of experiments have shown that the proposed algorithm possesses outstanding performance to solve the MDVRP.展开更多
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 a...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.展开更多
The flowshop scheduling problem is NP complete. To solve it by genetic algorithm, an efficient crossover operator is designed. Compared with another crossover operator, this one often finds a better solution within th...The flowshop scheduling problem is NP complete. To solve it by genetic algorithm, an efficient crossover operator is designed. Compared with another crossover operator, this one often finds a better solution within the same time.展开更多
Much of our daily tasks have been computerized by machines and sensors communicating with each other in real-time.There is a reasonable risk that something could go wrong because there are a lot of sensors producing a...Much of our daily tasks have been computerized by machines and sensors communicating with each other in real-time.There is a reasonable risk that something could go wrong because there are a lot of sensors producing a lot of data.Combinatorial testing(CT)can be used in this case to reduce risks and ensure conformance to specifications.Numerous existing metaheuristic-based solutions aim to assist the test suite generation for combinatorial testing,also known as t-way testing(where t indicates the interaction strength),viewed as an optimization problem.Much previous research,while helpful,only investigated a small number of interaction strengths up to t=6.For lightweight applications,research has demonstrated good fault-finding ability.However,the number of interaction strengths considered must be higher in the case of interactions that generate large amounts of data.Due to resource restrictions and the combinatorial explosion challenge,little work has been done to produce high-order interaction strength.In this context,the Whale Optimization Algorithm(WOA)is proposed to generate high-order interaction strength.To ensure that WOA conquers premature convergence and avoids local optima for large search spaces(owing to high-order interaction),three variants of WOA have been developed,namely Structurally Modified Whale Optimization Algorithm(SWOA),Tolerance Whale Optimization Algorithm(TWOA),and Tolerance Structurally Modified Whale Optimization Algorithm(TSWOA).Our experiments show that the third strategy gives the best performance and is comparable to existing state-of-thearts based strategies.展开更多
A real-life problem is the rostering of nurses at hospitals.It is a famous nondeterministic,polynomial time(NP)-hard combinatorial optimization problem.Handling the real-world nurse rostering problem(NRP)constraints i...A real-life problem is the rostering of nurses at hospitals.It is a famous nondeterministic,polynomial time(NP)-hard combinatorial optimization problem.Handling the real-world nurse rostering problem(NRP)constraints in distributing workload equally between available nurses is still a difficult task to achieve.The international shortage of nurses,in addition to the spread of COVID-19,has made it more difficult to provide convenient rosters for nurses.Based on the literature,heuristic-based methods are the most commonly used methods to solve the NRP due to its computational complexity,especially for large rosters.Heuristic-based algorithms in general have problems striking the balance between diversification and intensification.Therefore,this paper aims to introduce a novel metaheuristic hybridization that combines the enhanced harmony search algorithm(EHSA)with the simulated annealing(SA)algorithm called the annealing harmony search algorithm(AHSA).The AHSA is used to solve NRP from a Malaysian hospital.The AHSA performance is compared to the EHSA,climbing harmony search algorithm(CHSA),deluge harmony search algorithm(DHSA),and harmony annealing search algorithm(HAS).The results show that the AHSA performs better than the other compared algorithms for all the tested instances where the best ever results reported for the UKMMC dataset.展开更多
The minimum vertex cover problem(MVCP)is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem of graph theory.The MVCP is an NP(nondeterministic polynomial)complete problem and it has an exponential growing complexity with...The minimum vertex cover problem(MVCP)is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem of graph theory.The MVCP is an NP(nondeterministic polynomial)complete problem and it has an exponential growing complexity with respect to the size of a graph.No algorithm exits till date that can exactly solve the problem in a deterministic polynomial time scale.However,several algorithms are proposed that solve the problem approximately in a short polynomial time scale.Such algorithms are useful for large size graphs,for which exact solution of MVCP is impossible with current computational resources.The MVCP has a wide range of applications in the fields like bioinformatics,biochemistry,circuit design,electrical engineering,data aggregation,networking,internet traffic monitoring,pattern recognition,marketing and franchising etc.This work aims to solve the MVCP approximately by a novel graph decomposition approach.The decomposition of the graph yields a subgraph that contains edges shared by triangular edge structures.A subgraph is covered to yield a subgraph that forms one or more Hamiltonian cycles or paths.In order to reduce complexity of the algorithm a new strategy is also proposed.The reduction strategy can be used for any algorithm solving MVCP.Based on the graph decomposition and the reduction strategy,two algorithms are formulated to approximately solve the MVCP.These algorithms are tested using well known standard benchmark graphs.The key feature of the results is a good approximate error ratio and improvement in optimum vertex cover values for few graphs.展开更多
In the Covering Salesman Problem (CSP), a distribution of nodes is provided, and the objective is to identify the shortest-length tour of a subset of all given nodes such that each node is not on the tour which is wit...In the Covering Salesman Problem (CSP), a distribution of nodes is provided, and the objective is to identify the shortest-length tour of a subset of all given nodes such that each node is not on the tour which is within a radius r of any node on the tour. In this paper, we define a new covering problem called the CSP with Nodes and Segments (CSPNS). The main difference between the CSP and the CSPNS is that in the CSPNS, not only the nodes on the tour but also the segments on the tour can cover the nodes not on the tour. We formulated the CSPNS via integer programming and found an optimal solution by using a general-purpose mixed-integer program solver. Benchmark instances of the CSPNS were generated by DIMACS, which is one of the benchmark problems of the Traveling Salesman Problem. Optimal solutions could not be obtained in a reasonable time frame for a large size of instances. Thus, in this study, we developed a simple heuristic method to find good near-optimal solutions to the CSPNS. The proposed heuristic method quickly finds good solutions.展开更多
Scheduling sports leagues has drawn significant attention to itself in recent years, as it involves considerable revenue as well as challenging combinatorial optimization problems. A particular class of these problems...Scheduling sports leagues has drawn significant attention to itself in recent years, as it involves considerable revenue as well as challenging combinatorial optimization problems. A particular class of these problems is the Traveling Tournament Problem (TTP) which focuses on minimizing the total traveling distance for teams. In this paper, an efficient simulated annealing approach is presented for TTP which applies two simultaneous and disparate models for the problem in order to search the solutions space more effectively. Also, a computationally efficient modified greedy scheme is proposed for constructing a favorable initial solution for the simulated annealing algorithm. Our computational experiments, carried out on standard instances, demonstrate that this approach competes with previous offered methods in quality of found solutions and their computational time.展开更多
This study investigated a water supply recovery problem involving municipal water service piping. The problem consisted in recovering full service after network failure, in order to rapidly satisfy all urgent citywide...This study investigated a water supply recovery problem involving municipal water service piping. The problem consisted in recovering full service after network failure, in order to rapidly satisfy all urgent citywide demands. The optimal recovery solution was achieved through the application of so-called network design problems （NDPs）, which are a form of combinatorial optimization problem. However, a conventional NDP is not suitable for addressing urgent situations because （1） it does not utilize the non-failure arcs in the network, and （2） it is solely concerned with stable costs such as flow costs. Therefore, to adapt the technique to such urgent situations, the conventional NDP is here modified to deal with the specified water supply problem. In addition, a numerical illustration using the Sendai water network is presented.展开更多
The All-pairs shortest path problem(ALL-SPP)aims to find the shortest path joining all the vertices in a given graph.This study proposed a new optimal method,Dhouib-matrix-ALL-SPP(DM-ALL-SPP)to solve the ALL-SPP based...The All-pairs shortest path problem(ALL-SPP)aims to find the shortest path joining all the vertices in a given graph.This study proposed a new optimal method,Dhouib-matrix-ALL-SPP(DM-ALL-SPP)to solve the ALL-SPP based on column-row navigation through the adjacency matrix.DM-ALL-SPP is designed to generate in a single execution the shortest path with details among all-pairs of vertices for a graph with positive and negative weighted edges.Even for graphs with a negative cycle,DM-ALL-SPP reported a negative cycle.In addition,DM-ALL-SPP continues to work for directed,undirected and mixed graphs.Furthermore,it is characterized by two phases:the first phase consists of adding by column repeated(n)iterations(where n is the number of vertices),and the second phase resides in adding by row executed in the worst case(n∗log(n))iterations.The first phase,focused on improving the elements of each column by adding their values to each row and modifying them with the smallest value.The second phase is emphasized by rows only for the elements modified in the first phase.Different instances from the literature were used to test the performance of the proposed DM-ALL-SPP method,which was developed using the Python programming language and the results were compared to those obtained by the Floyd-Warshall algorithm.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.92365206)the support of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Certificate Number:2023M740272)+1 种基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12247168)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Certificate Number:2022TQ0036)。
文摘We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and comprehensive workflow that utilizes the quantum approximate optimization algorithm(QAOA).It facilitates the automatic conversion of the original problem into a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization(QUBO)model and its corresponding Ising model,which can be subsequently transformed into a weight graph.The core of Qcover relies on a graph decomposition-based classical algorithm,which efficiently derives the optimal parameters for the shallow QAOA circuit.Quafu-Qcover incorporates a dedicated compiler capable of translating QAOA circuits into physical quantum circuits that can be executed on Quafu cloud quantum computers.Compared to a general-purpose compiler,our compiler demonstrates the ability to generate shorter circuit depths,while also exhibiting superior speed performance.Additionally,the Qcover compiler has the capability to dynamically create a library of qubits coupling substructures in real-time,utilizing the most recent calibration data from the superconducting quantum devices.This ensures that computational tasks can be assigned to connected physical qubits with the highest fidelity.The Quafu-Qcover allows us to retrieve quantum computing sampling results using a task ID at any time,enabling asynchronous processing.Moreover,it incorporates modules for results preprocessing and visualization,facilitating an intuitive display of solutions for combinatorial optimization problems.We hope that Quafu-Qcover can serve as an instructive illustration for how to explore application problems on the Quafu cloud quantum computers.
基金supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2024JBZX029)Shijiazhuang High Level Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Project(No.08202307)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(No.22173004).
文摘The optimization of polymer structures aims to determine an optimal sequence or topology that achieves a given target property or structural performance.This inverse design problem involves searching within a vast combinatorial phase space defined by components,se-quences,and topologies,and is often computationally intractable due to its NP-hard nature.At the core of this challenge lies the need to evalu-ate complex correlations among structural variables,a classical problem in both statistical physics and combinatorial optimization.To address this,we adopt a mean-field approach that decouples direct variable-variable interactions into effective interactions between each variable and an auxiliary field.The simulated bifurcation(SB)algorithm is employed as a mean-field-based optimization framework.It constructs a Hamiltonian dynamical system by introducing generalized momentum fields,enabling efficient decoupling and dynamic evolution of strongly coupled struc-tural variables.Using the sequence optimization of a linear copolymer adsorbing on a solid surface as a case study,we demonstrate the applica-bility of the SB algorithm to high-dimensional,non-differentiable combinatorial optimization problems.Our results show that SB can efficiently discover polymer sequences with excellent adsorption performance within a reasonable computational time.Furthermore,it exhibits robust con-vergence and high parallel scalability across large design spaces.The approach developed in this work offers a new computational pathway for polymer structure optimization.It also lays a theoretical foundation for future extensions to topological design problems,such as optimizing the number and placement of side chains,as well as the co-optimization of sequence and topology.
文摘This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Automata （MDFA） is defined. MDFA allows the representation of the feasible solutions space of combinatorial problems. Second, it is defined and implemented a metaheuritic based on MDFA theory. It is named Metaheuristic of Deterministic Swapping （MODS）. MODS is a local search strategy that works using a MDFA. Due to this, MODS never take into account unfeasible solutions. Hence, it is not necessary to verify the problem constraints for a new solution found. Lastly, MODS is tested using well know instances of the Bi-Objective Traveling Salesman Problem （TSP） from TSPLIB. Its results were compared with eight Ant Colony inspired algorithms and two Genetic algorithms taken from the specialized literature. The comparison was made using metrics such as Spacing, Generational Distance, Inverse Generational Distance and No-Dominated Generation Vectors. In every case, the MODS results on the metrics were always better and in some of those cases, the superiority was 100%.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.61502198)the Science&Technology Development Project of Jilin Province(Nos.20180101334JC and 20190302117GX)the"3th-Five Year" Science and Technology Research Project of Education Department of Jilin Province(No.JJKH20170574KJ)
文摘Traveling salesman problem(TSP) is one of the typical NP-hard problems, and it has been used in many engineering applications. However, the previous swarm intelligence(SI) based algorithms for TSP cannot coordinate with the exploration and exploitation abilities and are easily trapped into local optimum. In order to deal with this situation, a new hybrid optimization algorithm based on wolf pack search and local search(WPS-LS)is proposed for TSP. The new method firstly simulates the predatory process of wolf pack from the broad field to a specific place so that it allows for a search through all possible solution spaces and prevents wolf individuals from getting trapped into local optimum. Then, local search operation is used in the algorithm to improve the speed of solving and the accuracy of solution. The test of benchmarks selected from TSPLIB shows that the results obtained by this algorithm are better and closer to the theoretical optimal values with better robustness than those obtained by other methods.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12074335)the National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2016YFA0300402).
文摘Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal solutions are usually difficult to solve.Therefore,great attention has been attracted to the algorithms of searching the globally optimal solution or near-optimal solution for the combinatorial optimization problems.As a typical combinatorial optimization problem,the traveling salesman problem(TSP)often serves as a touchstone for novel approaches.It has been found that natural systems,particularly brain nervous systems,work at the critical region between order and disorder,namely,on the edge of chaos.In this work,an algorithm for the combinatorial optimization problems is proposed based on the neural networks on the edge of chaos(ECNN).The algorithm is then applied to TSPs of 10 cities,21 cities,48 cities and 70 cities.The results show that ECNN algorithm has strong ability to drive the networks away from local minimums.Compared with the transiently chaotic neural network(TCNN),the stochastic chaotic neural network(SCNN)algorithms and other optimization algorithms,much higher rates of globally optimal solutions and near-optimal solutions are obtained with ECNN algorithm.To conclude,our algorithm provides an effective way for solving the combinatorial optimization problems.
文摘The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows(VRPTW)presents a significant challenge in combinatorial optimization,especially under real-world uncertainties such as variable travel times,service durations,and dynamic customer demands.These uncertainties make traditional deterministic models inadequate,often leading to suboptimal or infeasible solutions.To address these challenges,this work proposes an adaptive hybrid metaheuristic that integrates Genetic Algorithms(GA)with Local Search(LS),while incorporating stochastic uncertainty modeling through probabilistic travel times.The proposed algorithm dynamically adjusts parameters—such as mutation rate and local search probability—based on real-time search performance.This adaptivity enhances the algorithm’s ability to balance exploration and exploitation during the optimization process.Travel time uncertainties are modeled using Gaussian noise,and solution robustness is evaluated through scenario-based simulations.We test our method on a set of benchmark problems from Solomon’s instance suite,comparing its performance under deterministic and stochastic conditions.Results show that the proposed hybrid approach achieves up to a 9%reduction in expected total travel time and a 40% reduction in time window violations compared to baseline methods,including classical GA and non-adaptive hybrids.Additionally,the algorithm demonstrates strong robustness,with lower solution variance across uncertainty scenarios,and converges faster than competing approaches.These findings highlight the method’s suitability for practical logistics applications such as last-mile delivery and real-time transportation planning,where uncertainty and service-level constraints are critical.The flexibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework make it a promising candidate for deployment in dynamic,uncertainty-aware supply chain environments.
文摘Currently,the industry is experiencing an exponential increase in dealing with binary-based combinatorial problems.In this sense,metaheuristics have been a common trend in the field in order to design approaches to solve them successfully.Thus,a well-known strategy consists in the use of algorithms based on discrete swarms transformed to perform in binary environments.Following the No Free Lunch theorem,we are interested in testing the performance of the Fruit Fly Algorithm,this is a bio-inspired metaheuristic for deducing global optimization in continuous spaces,based on the foraging behavior of the fruit fly,which usually has much better sensory perception of smell and vision than any other species.On the other hand,the Set Coverage Problem is a well-known NP-hard problem with many practical applications,including production line balancing,utility installation,and crew scheduling in railroad and mass transit companies.In this paper,we propose different binarization methods for the Fruit Fly Algorithm,using Sshaped and V-shaped transfer functions and various discretization methods to make the algorithm work in a binary search space.We are motivated with this approach,because in this way we can deliver to future researchers interested in this area,a way to be able to work with continuous metaheuristics in binary domains.This new approach was tested on benchmark instances of the Set Coverage Problem and the computational results show that the proposed algorithm is robust enough to produce good results with low computational cost.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.61627810)the National Science and Technology Major Program of China (No.2018YFB1305003)the National Defense Science and Technology Outstanding Youth Science Foundation (No.2017-JCJQ-ZQ-031)。
文摘Traveling salesman problem(TSP)is a classic non-deterministic polynomial-hard optimization prob-lem.Based on the characteristics of self-organizing mapping(SOM)network,this paper proposes an improved SOM network from the perspectives of network update strategy,initialization method,and parameter selection.This paper compares the performance of the proposed algorithms with the performance of existing SOM network algorithms on the TSP and compares them with several heuristic algorithms.Simulations show that compared with existing SOM networks,the improved SOM network proposed in this paper improves the convergence rate and algorithm accuracy.Compared with iterated local search and heuristic algorithms,the improved SOM net-work algorithms proposed in this paper have the advantage of fast calculation speed on medium-scale TSP.
文摘In this work, we present a multi-phase hybrid algorithm based on clustering to solve the multi-depots vehicle routing problem (MDVRP). The proposed algorithm initially adopts K-means algorithm to execute the clustering analyses, which take the depots as the centroids of the clusters, for the all customers of MDVRP, then implements the local depth search using the Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) for every cluster, and then globally re-adjusts the solutions, i.e., rectifies positions of all frogs by the extremal optimization (EO). The processes will continue until the convergence criterions are satisfied. The results of experiments have shown that the proposed algorithm possesses outstanding performance to solve the MDVRP.
文摘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.
文摘The flowshop scheduling problem is NP complete. To solve it by genetic algorithm, an efficient crossover operator is designed. Compared with another crossover operator, this one often finds a better solution within the same time.
基金This work was supported by the Ministry of Education,Malaysia(FRGS/1/2019/ICT02/UKM/01/1)the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia(DIP-2016-024).
文摘Much of our daily tasks have been computerized by machines and sensors communicating with each other in real-time.There is a reasonable risk that something could go wrong because there are a lot of sensors producing a lot of data.Combinatorial testing(CT)can be used in this case to reduce risks and ensure conformance to specifications.Numerous existing metaheuristic-based solutions aim to assist the test suite generation for combinatorial testing,also known as t-way testing(where t indicates the interaction strength),viewed as an optimization problem.Much previous research,while helpful,only investigated a small number of interaction strengths up to t=6.For lightweight applications,research has demonstrated good fault-finding ability.However,the number of interaction strengths considered must be higher in the case of interactions that generate large amounts of data.Due to resource restrictions and the combinatorial explosion challenge,little work has been done to produce high-order interaction strength.In this context,the Whale Optimization Algorithm(WOA)is proposed to generate high-order interaction strength.To ensure that WOA conquers premature convergence and avoids local optima for large search spaces(owing to high-order interaction),three variants of WOA have been developed,namely Structurally Modified Whale Optimization Algorithm(SWOA),Tolerance Whale Optimization Algorithm(TWOA),and Tolerance Structurally Modified Whale Optimization Algorithm(TSWOA).Our experiments show that the third strategy gives the best performance and is comparable to existing state-of-thearts based strategies.
文摘A real-life problem is the rostering of nurses at hospitals.It is a famous nondeterministic,polynomial time(NP)-hard combinatorial optimization problem.Handling the real-world nurse rostering problem(NRP)constraints in distributing workload equally between available nurses is still a difficult task to achieve.The international shortage of nurses,in addition to the spread of COVID-19,has made it more difficult to provide convenient rosters for nurses.Based on the literature,heuristic-based methods are the most commonly used methods to solve the NRP due to its computational complexity,especially for large rosters.Heuristic-based algorithms in general have problems striking the balance between diversification and intensification.Therefore,this paper aims to introduce a novel metaheuristic hybridization that combines the enhanced harmony search algorithm(EHSA)with the simulated annealing(SA)algorithm called the annealing harmony search algorithm(AHSA).The AHSA is used to solve NRP from a Malaysian hospital.The AHSA performance is compared to the EHSA,climbing harmony search algorithm(CHSA),deluge harmony search algorithm(DHSA),and harmony annealing search algorithm(HAS).The results show that the AHSA performs better than the other compared algorithms for all the tested instances where the best ever results reported for the UKMMC dataset.
文摘The minimum vertex cover problem(MVCP)is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem of graph theory.The MVCP is an NP(nondeterministic polynomial)complete problem and it has an exponential growing complexity with respect to the size of a graph.No algorithm exits till date that can exactly solve the problem in a deterministic polynomial time scale.However,several algorithms are proposed that solve the problem approximately in a short polynomial time scale.Such algorithms are useful for large size graphs,for which exact solution of MVCP is impossible with current computational resources.The MVCP has a wide range of applications in the fields like bioinformatics,biochemistry,circuit design,electrical engineering,data aggregation,networking,internet traffic monitoring,pattern recognition,marketing and franchising etc.This work aims to solve the MVCP approximately by a novel graph decomposition approach.The decomposition of the graph yields a subgraph that contains edges shared by triangular edge structures.A subgraph is covered to yield a subgraph that forms one or more Hamiltonian cycles or paths.In order to reduce complexity of the algorithm a new strategy is also proposed.The reduction strategy can be used for any algorithm solving MVCP.Based on the graph decomposition and the reduction strategy,two algorithms are formulated to approximately solve the MVCP.These algorithms are tested using well known standard benchmark graphs.The key feature of the results is a good approximate error ratio and improvement in optimum vertex cover values for few graphs.
文摘In the Covering Salesman Problem (CSP), a distribution of nodes is provided, and the objective is to identify the shortest-length tour of a subset of all given nodes such that each node is not on the tour which is within a radius r of any node on the tour. In this paper, we define a new covering problem called the CSP with Nodes and Segments (CSPNS). The main difference between the CSP and the CSPNS is that in the CSPNS, not only the nodes on the tour but also the segments on the tour can cover the nodes not on the tour. We formulated the CSPNS via integer programming and found an optimal solution by using a general-purpose mixed-integer program solver. Benchmark instances of the CSPNS were generated by DIMACS, which is one of the benchmark problems of the Traveling Salesman Problem. Optimal solutions could not be obtained in a reasonable time frame for a large size of instances. Thus, in this study, we developed a simple heuristic method to find good near-optimal solutions to the CSPNS. The proposed heuristic method quickly finds good solutions.
文摘Scheduling sports leagues has drawn significant attention to itself in recent years, as it involves considerable revenue as well as challenging combinatorial optimization problems. A particular class of these problems is the Traveling Tournament Problem (TTP) which focuses on minimizing the total traveling distance for teams. In this paper, an efficient simulated annealing approach is presented for TTP which applies two simultaneous and disparate models for the problem in order to search the solutions space more effectively. Also, a computationally efficient modified greedy scheme is proposed for constructing a favorable initial solution for the simulated annealing algorithm. Our computational experiments, carried out on standard instances, demonstrate that this approach competes with previous offered methods in quality of found solutions and their computational time.
文摘This study investigated a water supply recovery problem involving municipal water service piping. The problem consisted in recovering full service after network failure, in order to rapidly satisfy all urgent citywide demands. The optimal recovery solution was achieved through the application of so-called network design problems （NDPs）, which are a form of combinatorial optimization problem. However, a conventional NDP is not suitable for addressing urgent situations because （1） it does not utilize the non-failure arcs in the network, and （2） it is solely concerned with stable costs such as flow costs. Therefore, to adapt the technique to such urgent situations, the conventional NDP is here modified to deal with the specified water supply problem. In addition, a numerical illustration using the Sendai water network is presented.
文摘The All-pairs shortest path problem(ALL-SPP)aims to find the shortest path joining all the vertices in a given graph.This study proposed a new optimal method,Dhouib-matrix-ALL-SPP(DM-ALL-SPP)to solve the ALL-SPP based on column-row navigation through the adjacency matrix.DM-ALL-SPP is designed to generate in a single execution the shortest path with details among all-pairs of vertices for a graph with positive and negative weighted edges.Even for graphs with a negative cycle,DM-ALL-SPP reported a negative cycle.In addition,DM-ALL-SPP continues to work for directed,undirected and mixed graphs.Furthermore,it is characterized by two phases:the first phase consists of adding by column repeated(n)iterations(where n is the number of vertices),and the second phase resides in adding by row executed in the worst case(n∗log(n))iterations.The first phase,focused on improving the elements of each column by adding their values to each row and modifying them with the smallest value.The second phase is emphasized by rows only for the elements modified in the first phase.Different instances from the literature were used to test the performance of the proposed DM-ALL-SPP method,which was developed using the Python programming language and the results were compared to those obtained by the Floyd-Warshall algorithm.
