Effective heuristic algorithms for VLSI circuit partition

Multi-way graph partition by stochastic probe

In this paper, we address the flowpath design issue of Automated Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVSs). In particular, we concentrate on the design of unidirectional flowpaths (i.e. vehicles are restricted to travel only in one direction along a given segment of the flowpath). We have developed intelligent heuristics — simulated annealing and tabu search algorithms for the design of unidirectional AGVSs. Different versions of simulated annealing and tabu search algorithms are implemented. Our extensive computational results indicate that both simulated annealing and tabu search yield solutions of adequate quality for all practical purposes. A tabu search implementation with the use of a frequency-based memory structure dominates all tested heuristics in terms of solution quality (i.e. percent deviation from optimality), with an impressive average performance over 45 test problems of less than 0.85% deviation from optimality.

Researchers have indicated that a permutation schedule can be improved by a non-permutation schedule in a flowshop with completion time-based criteria, such as makespan and total completion time. This study proposes a hybrid approach which draws on the advantages of simulated annealing and tabu search for the non-permutation flowshop scheduling problem, in which the objective function is the makespan of the schedule. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach, computational experiments are performed on a set of well-known non-permutation flowshop scheduling benchmark problems. The result shows that the performance of the hybrid approach is better than that of other approaches, including ant colony optimisation, simulated annealing, and tabu search. Further, the proposed approach found new upper bound values for all benchmark problems within a reasonable computational time.

In this paper, we study the resource management problem in Direct Sequence-Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (DS-WCDMA) systems. The control variables, transmission power, and transmission rate for resource management are considered. Three meta-heuristic techniques, Genetic Algorithms (GA), Simulated Annealing (SA), and Tabu Search (TS), are utilized to solve this optimization problem. Also, a nonlinear programming technique, Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) method, is adopted to compare with the three meta-heuristic techniques. Two approaches, the single objective approach and the multiobjective approach, are used in the simulation. The results obtained by GA, SA, TS, and GRG are compared in a single objective approach. In a multiobjective approach, Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) is employed to compare with the other two well-known multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs), Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy (PAES) and Micro-Genetic Algorithms (MICRO-GA). Two scenarios, scenario (a): 25 users and scenario (b): 50 users, are considered for both approaches. The simulation results of a single objective approach show that GA outperforms SA, TS, and GRG in the two scenarios. Also, the simulation results of a multiobjective approach show that MOGA outperforms PAES and MICRO-GA, and obtains nondominated trade-off solutions with better convergence and diversity between trade minimization of total power and maximization of total rate in two scenarios.

Scheduling problems in real systems often require sequence-dependent setup times. The topic of sequence-dependent setup times has not been addressed adequately, and improved competitiveness is thus not achieved. This study proposes a hybrid approach that takes advantage of simulated annealing (SA) and tabu search (TS) to solve single-machine tardiness problems with sequence-dependent setup times. To verify the proposed approach, experiments were conducted on benchmark problem sets that included both the weighted and un-weighted tardiness problems. The results show that the performance of the hybrid approach is superior to that of the SA, genetic algorithm, TS and ant colony optimization approaches, and is comparable with the Tabu-VNS approach. And the proposed approach found new upper bound values for many benchmark problems with an acceptable computational time.

Evolutionary algorithms, simulated annealing and tabu search: a comparative study

The combinatorial optimization problem considered in this paper is flow shop scheduling problem arising in logistics, management, business, manufacture and etc. A set of machines and a set of jobs are given. Each job consists of a set of operations. Machines are working with unavailability intervals. The task is to minimize makespan, i.e. the overall length of the schedule. There is overview of combinatorial optimization, scheduling problems and methods used to solve them. There is also presented and realized one exact algorithm – Branch and Bound, and two meta-heuristics: Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search. Analysis of these three algorithms is made.

A network with restoration capability requires spare capacity to be used in the case of failure. Optimization of spare capacity is to find the minimum amount of spare capacity for the network to survive from network component failures. In this paper, this problem is investigated for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) mesh networks without wavelength conversion. We propose a hybrid genetic algorithm approach (GA) for the problem. Simulated Annealing (SA) and Tabu Search (TS) are also applied to this problem for comparison purpose. Simulation results show very favorable results for the Genetic Algorithm approach.

Fast solution of radial distribution networks with automated compensation and reconfiguration

Local search is an emerging paradigm for combinatorial search which has recently been shown to be very effective for a large number of combinatorial problems. It is based on the idea of navigating the search space by iteratively stepping from one solution to one of its neighbors, which are obtained by applying a simple local change to it. In this paper we present LOCAL++, an object-oriented framework to be used as a general tool for the development and implementation of local search algorithms in C++. The framework comprises a hierarchy of abstract template classes, one for each local search technique taken into account (i.e. hill-climbing, simulated annealing and tabu search). Each class specifies and implements the invariant part of the algorithm built according to the technique, and is supposed to be specialized by a concrete class once a given search problem is considered, so as to implement the problem-dependent part of the algorithm. LOCAL++ comprises also a set of abstract classes for creating new techniques by combining different search techniques and different neighborhood relations. The architecture of LOCAL++ provides a principled modularization for the solution of combinatorial search problems, and helps the designer deriving a neat conceptual scheme of the application, thus facilitating the development and debugging phases. LOCAL++ proved to be flexible enough for the implementation of the algorithms solving various scheduling problems. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper addresses the cell formation problem in group technology (GT). We develop two heuristic methods for generating solutions to the problem. These methods are based on two powerful combinatorial search methods simulated annealing and tabu search. The performance of the heuristics is examined using randomly generated, published and industry data. The results indicate that the simulated annealing based heuristic is the preferred technique in the context of the problem addressed in this paper. Further, we also demonstrate that the simulated annealing based heuristic generates near-optimal solutions to the cell formation model formulated in this paper.

Global optimization for track finding

Withdrawn.

This article proposes the hybrid Nelder–Mead (NM)–Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm based on the NM simplex search method and PSO for the optimization of multimodal functions. The hybrid NM–PSO algorithm is very easy to implement, in practice, since it does not require gradient computation. This hybrid procedure performed the exploration with PSO and the exploitation with the NM simplex search method. In a suite of 17 multi-optima test functions taken from the literature, the computational results via various experimental studies showed that the hybrid NM–PSO approach is superior to the two original search techniques (i.e. NM and PSO) in terms of solution quality and convergence rate. In addition, the presented algorithm is also compared with eight other published methods, such as hybrid genetic algorithm (GA), continuous GA, simulated annealing (SA), and tabu search (TS) by means of a smaller set of test functions. On the whole, the new algorithm is demonstrated to be extremely effective and efficient at locating best-practice optimal solutions for multimodal functions.

In the search for better optimisation techniques, new methods that mix artificial intelligence and operations research have emerged. Search heuristics are integrated with optimisation algorithms. Approximation methods, like Hill Climbing, Simulated Annealing, and Tabu Search, that have been used with success in combinatorial optimisation problems, are one of such research lines. This paper presents the key elements of approximation methods and combines them in a tool appropriate for solving sequencing and resource allocation problems. The system permits a clear division between problem specification and problem solving, allowing a declarative representation and therefore minimising developing costs. The key issues discussed in this work are a model for representing this class of problems in a standard form, a set of strategies for applying the approximation methodology, and an expert system that dynamically manipulates the strategies' parameters.