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Scatter Search

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Handbook of Heuristics

Abstract

Scatter search (SS) is a population-based metaheuristic that has been shown to yield high-quality outcomes for hard combinatorial optimization problems. It uses strategies for combining solution vectors, making limited use of randomization, that have proved effective in a variety of problem settings. The fundamental concepts and principles were first proposed in the 1960s and 1970s as an extension of mathematical relaxation techniques for combinatorial optimization problems. Its framework is flexible, allowing the development of implementations with varying degrees of sophistication.

This chapter provides a grounding in the scatter search methodology that will allow readers to create successful applications of their own. To illustrate this, we present a scatter search implementation for a \(\mathcal{N}\mathcal{P}\)-hard variant of the classic p-hub median problem, for which we describe search elements, mechanisms, and strategies to generate, combine, and improve solutions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (projects TIN-2012-35632-C02 and MTM-2012-36163-C06-02 and grant BES-2013-064245) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (project Prometeo 2013/049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultat de Ciències Matemàtiques, Departament d’Estadística i Investigació Operativa, Universitat de València, Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100, Burjassot – València, Spain

    Rafael Martı́, Ángel Corberán & Juanjo Peiró

Authors
  1. Rafael Martı́
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  2. Ángel Corberán
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  3. Juanjo Peiró
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Correspondence to Rafael Martı́ .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics and Operations, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Rafael Martí

  2. University of Florida Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Pardalos Panos

  3. AT & T Labs Research, Florham Park, New Jersey, USA

    Mauricio G.C. Resende

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Martı́, R., Corberán, Á., Peiró, J. (2015). Scatter Search. In: Martí, R., Panos, P., Resende, M. (eds) Handbook of Heuristics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07153-4_20-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07153-4_20-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07153-4

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