Skip to main content

Ant Local Search for Combinatorial Optimization

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Bio-Inspired Models of Network, Information, and Computing Systems (BIONETICS 2012)

Abstract

In ant algorithms, each individual ant makes decisions according to the greedy force (short term profit) and the trail system based on the history of the search (information provided by other ants). Usually, each ant is a constructive process, which starts from scratch and builds step by step a complete solution of the considered problem. In contrast, in Ant Local Search (ALS), each ant is a local search, which starts from an initial solution and tries to improve it iteratively. In this paper are presented and discussed successful adaptations of ALS to different combinatorial optimization problems: graph coloring, a refueling problem in a railway network, and a job scheduling problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Baptiste, P., Le Pape, C.: Scheduling a single machine to minimize a regular objective function under setup constraints. Discrete Optim. 2, 83–99 (2005)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Bloechliger, I., Zufferey, N.: A graph coloring heuristic using partial solutions and a reactive tabu scheme. Comput. Oper. Res. 35, 960–975 (2008)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Blum, C.: Ant colony optimization: introduction and recent trends. Phys. Life Rev. 2(4), 353–373 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Costa, D., Hertz, A.: Ants can colour graphs. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 48, 295–305 (1997)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Dorigo, M., Birattari, M., Stuetzle, T.: Ant colony optimization – artificial ants as a computational intelligence technique. IEEE Comput. Intell. Mag. 1(4), 28–39 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dorigo, M., Stuetzle, T.: The ant colony optimization metaheuristic: algorithms, applications, and advances. In: Glover, F., Kochenberger, G. (eds.) Handbook of Metaheuristics, vol. 57, pp. 251–285. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Glover, F., Laguna, M.: Tabu Search. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston (1997)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Hertz, A., Zufferey, N.: A new ant colony algorithm for graph coloring. In: Pelta and Krasnogor (eds.) Proceedings of the Workshop on Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization, NICSO 2006, pp. 51–60, Granada, Spain, 29–30 June 2006

    Google Scholar 

  9. INFORMS RAS Competition (2010). http://www.informs.org/community/ras/problem-solving-competition/2010-ras-competition

  10. Kuby, M., Lim, S.: The flow-refueling location problem for alternative-fuel vehicles. Socio Econ. Plann.Sci. 39(2), 125–145 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lu, Z., Hao, J.-K.: A memetic algorithm for graph coloring. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 203, 241–250 (2010)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Malaguti, E., Toth, P.: A survey on vertex coloring problems. Int. Trans. Oper. Res. 17(1), 1–34 (2010)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Nourbakhsh, S.M., Ouyang, Y.: Optimal fueling strategies for locomotive fleets in railroad networks. Transp. Res. Part B 44(8–9), 1104–1114 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Oguz, C., Salman, F.S., Yalcin, Z.B.: Order acceptance and scheduling decisions in make-to-order systems. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 125, 200–2011 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Plumettaz, M., Schindl, D., Zufferey, N.: Ant local search and its efficient adaptation to graph colouring. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 61, 819–826 (2010)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Schindl, D., Zufferey, N.: A local search for refueling locomotives. In: Proceedings of the 54th Annual Conference of the Administrative Science Association of Canada - Production and Operations Management Division (ASAC 2011), pp. 53–61, Montreal, Canada, 2–5 July 2011

    Google Scholar 

  17. Schindl, D., Zufferey, N.: Ant local search for fuel supply of trains in America. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Logistics Operations Management, Le Havre, France, 17–19 October 2012

    Google Scholar 

  18. Thevenin, S., Zufferey, N., Widmer, M.: Tabu search to minimize regular objective functions for a single machine scheduling problem with rejected jobs, setups and time windows. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Modeling, Optimization and Simulation (MOSIM 2012), Bordeaux, France, 6–8 June 2012

    Google Scholar 

  19. Vaidyanathan, B., Ahuja, R.K., Liu, J., Shughart, L.A.: Real-life locomotive planning: new formulations and computational results. Transp. Res. Part B 42(2), 147–168 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Yang, B., Geunes, J.: A single resource scheduling problem with job-selection flexibility, tardiness costs and controllable processing times. Comput. Ind. Eng. 53, 420–432 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zufferey, N.: Optimization by ant algorithms: possible roles for an individual ant. Optim. Lett. 6(5), 963–973 (2012)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolas Zufferey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

About this paper

Cite this paper

Zufferey, N. (2014). Ant Local Search for Combinatorial Optimization. In: Di Caro, G., Theraulaz, G. (eds) Bio-Inspired Models of Network, Information, and Computing Systems. BIONETICS 2012. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 134. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06944-9_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06944-9_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06943-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06944-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics