Solving Travelling Salesman Problem Using Egyptian Vulture Optimization Algorithm – A New Approach

Solving combinatorial optimization problems of the kind that can be codified by quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) is a promising application of quantum computation. Some problems of this class suitable for practical applications such as the traveling salesman problem (TSP), the bin packing problem (BPP), or the knapsack problem (KP) have inequality constraints that require a particular cost function encoding. The common approach is the use of slack variables to represent the inequality constraints in the cost function. However, the use of slack variables considerably increases the number of qubits and operations required to solve these problems using quantum devices. In this work, we present an alternative method that does not require extra slack variables and consists of using an unbalanced penalization function to represent the inequality constraints in the QUBO. This function is characterized by larger penalization when the inequality constraint is not achieved than when it is. We evaluate our approach on the TSP, BPP, and KP, successfully encoding the optimal solution of the original optimization problem near the ground state cost Hamiltonian. Additionally, we employ D-Wave Advantage and D-Wave hybrid solvers to solve the BPP, surpassing the performance of the slack variables approach by achieving solutions for up to 29 items, whereas the slack variables approach only handles up to 11 items. This new approach can be used to solve combinatorial problems with inequality constraints with a reduced number of resources compared to the slack variables approach using quantum annealing or variational quantum algorithms.

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is an NP-hard graph search problem. Despite having numerous modifications of the original abstract problem, Time Dependent Traveling Salesman Problem (TD TSP) was one of the most realistic extensions under real traffic conditions. In TD TSP the edges between nodes are assigned higher costs (weights), if they were traveled during the rush hour periods, or crossed the traffic jam regions, such as the city center(s). In this paper we introduce an even more real-life motivated approach, the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Time Dependent Traveling Salesman Problem (IFTD TSP), which is a further extension of the TSP, and also of the classic TD TSP, with the additional notion of using intuitionistic fuzzy sets for the definition of uncertain costs, time, and space of the rush hour—traffic jam region affecting graph sections. In IFTD TSP we use fuzzy memberships and non-memberships sets for estimating the vague costs between nodes in order to quantify the behavior of traffic jam regions, and the rush hour periods. Since intuitionistic fuzzy sets are generalizations of classic fuzzy sets, our approach may be considered an extension and substitution of the original abstract TD TSP problem, even, of the (classic) Fuzzy TD TSP. Lastly, DBMEA (Discrete Bacterial Memetic Evolutionary Algorithm) was applied on the IFTD TSP model, the results of the simulation runs based on some extensions of the benchmarks generated from the original TD TSP data set showed quite good and promising preliminary results.

With the development of machine learning in various fields, it can also be applied to combinatorial optimization problems, automatically discovering generic and fast heuristic algorithms based on training data, and requires fewer theoretical and empirical knowledge. Pointer network improves the attention mechanism, instead of allocating different attention to hidden states of encoder to generate context vectors, using attention as a pointer to select an element of the input sequence at every step of decoding, which solves the problem of variable dictionary size of the output sequence. Pointer net (Ptr-Net) applied to three combinatorial optimization problems, convex hull, Delaunay triangulation, and traveling salesman problem (TSP), obtains good approximate solutions. Point matching is also a special kind of combinatorial optimization problems that is to obtain the optimal corresponding references, which can be modeled by Ptr-Net. However, Ptr-Net can’t be used to solve point matching problem because it doesn’t take full advantage of the correspondences between the two point sets. We propose multi-pointer network, which draws the idea from multi-label classification, to address this limitation by pointing out a set of input elements. These applications are all based on supervised learning to approximate expected known solutions. However, high-quality labeled data is often expensive, unreliable, or simply unavailable and may be infeasible for new problem statements, making supervised learning being unpractical. Reinforcement learning, as another research hotspot in the field of machine learning, does not require labeled sample data. It interacts with the environment through trial-and-error mechanism and focuses more on learning problem-solving strategies. We introduce a framework to tackle combinatorial optimization problems using neural networks and reinforcement learning, focusing on the traveling salesman problem. We also introduce a framework, a unique combination of reinforcement learning and graph embedding network, to solve graph optimization problems, focusing on maximum cut (MAXCUT) and minimum vertex cover (MVC) problems.

Traveling salesman problem (TSP) is a well-known NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. It has been solved by a number of exact and approximate algorithms and serves as a testbed for new heuristic and metaheuristic optimization algorithms. However, it is often not easy to evaluate the hardness (complexity) of a TSP instance. Simple measures such as the number of cities or the minimum (maximum) route length do not capture the internal structure of a TSP instance sufficiently. In this work, we propose a new method for the assessment of TSP instance complexity based on clustering. The new approach is evaluated on a set of randomized TSP instances with different structure and its relation to the performance of a selected metaheuristic TSP solver is studied.

Traveling salesman problem (TSP) means that a travelling salesman needs to promote products in n cities (including the city where he lives). After visiting each city (each city can be visited once), he returns to the departure city. Let’s suppose that there is one road to connect each two cities. What is the best route to follow in order to minimize the distance of the journey? TSP has been proven to be a NP-hard problem, i.e. failure of finding a polynomial time algorithm to get a optimal solution. TSP is easy to interpret, yet hard to solve. This problem has aroused many scholars’ interests since it was put forward in 1932. However, until now, no effective solution has been found. Though TSP only represents a problem of the shortest ring road, in actual life, many physical problems are found to be the TSP. Example 1, postal route. Postal route problem is a TSP. Suppose that a mail car needs to collect mails in n places. Under such circumstances, you can show the route through a drawing containing n+1 crunodes. One crunode means a post office which this mail car departures from and returns to. The remaining n crunodes mean the crunodes at which the mails need to be collected. The route that the mail car passes through is a travelling route. We hope to find a travelling route with the shortest length. Example 2, mechanical arm. When a mechanical arm is used to fasten the nuts for the ready-to-assembling parts on the assembly line, this mechanical arm will move from the initial position (position where the first nut needs to be fastened) to each nut in proper order and then return to the initial position. The route which the mechanical arm follows is a travelling route in the drawing which contains crunodes as nuts; the most economical travelling route will enable the mechanical arm to finish its work within the shortest time. Example 3, integrated circuit. In the course of manufacturing the integrated circuit, we often need to insert thousands of electrical elements. It will consume certain energy when moving from one electrical element to the other during manufacturing. How can we do to arrange the manufacturing order to minimum the energy consumption? This is obviously a solution for TSP. Except for the above examples, problems like route distribution of transportation network, choice of tourist route, laying of pipelines needed for city planning and engineering construction are interlinked with the problems of finding the shortest route. So, it is of significance to make a study on the problem of the shortest route. This renders us a use value. As finding a solution for TSP plays an important role in the real life, since the TSP appeared, it has attracted many scholars to make a study on it.

Recently, the nature has become a source of inspiration for the creation of many algorithms. A great research effort has been devoted to the development of new metaheuristics, especially nature-inspired one to solve numerous difficult combinatorial problems appearing in various industrial, economic, and scientific domains. The nature-inspired algorithms offer additional advantages over classical algorithms; they seek to find acceptable results within a reasonable time, rather than an ability to guarantee the optimal or sub-optimal solution. The travelling salesman problem (TSP) is an important issue in the class of combinatorial optimization problem and also classified as NP-hard problem and no polynomial time algorithm is known to solve it. Based on three nature-inspired algorithms, this paper proposes a comparative study to solve TSP. The proposed algorithms are evaluated on a set of symmetric benchmark instances from the TSPLIB library.

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most well-known NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems (COPs). Many social production problems can be effectively represented as instances of TSPs. However, solving large-scale TSPs remains a significant challenge for conventional Von Neumann computers. Many studies have proposed annealing processors to address large-scale COPs, but most of them focus on unconstrained problems, such as the Maxcut problem. In this paper, a scalable decoupled-clustering annealng processor (DCAP) for efficiently handling large-scale TSPs is presented. A decoupled hierarchical clustering algorithm is proposed for higher convergence speed and improved scalability. Several techniques have been developed in hardware to minimize area overhead and processing time, including a modified spin connection topology for the Ising model, an area-efficient random threshold generator, a one-step spin update scheme and a dynamic prediction method. The DCAP prototype is implemented on FPGA with an operating frequency of 125MHz. We tested our design on various TSP instances from the TSPLIB. Results show that our design outperforms the CPU- and GPU-based Neuro-Ising scheme by achieving maximum speedups of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$780\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and a 42% improvement in accuracy. With multi-chip interconnection, DCAP is able to handle problems of scale up to 85900 cities.

Metaheuristic algorithms, such as simulated annealing, tabu search and evolutionary algorithms, are popular techniques for solving optimization problems when exact methods are not practical. For example, the run times required to obtain exact solutions to many common combinatorial problems grow exponentially (or worse) with the problem size, and as a result, solving even a relatively modest sized problem of this type may require many centuries of computation time, even on the fastest computer of the day. Such problems are known collectively as NP-Hard, and include the travelling salesman problem (TSP), which is probably the best known problem in the class. The present study will concentrate on a type of NP-Hard combinatorial problem known as the set partitioning problem. If we have n objects to partition into m sets, in such a way that each object must be assigned to exactly one set, it follows that there are m n different ways that the n objects can be assigned to the m sets, for a straightforward unconstrained problem. It is instructive to note that every time the problem size of the set partitioning problem is increased by one object, the corresponding run time for an exhaustive search algorithm will increase by a factor of m, and thus the run time grows exponentially as the number of objects – n – increases. While it is true that much better exact methods than exhaustive search have been developed for most NP-Hard problems, the ‘growth factor’ remains exponential for the run time, and no one in history has so far managed to change that.

In this paper, we propose a framework for employing opposition-based learning to assist evolutionary algorithms in solving discrete and combinatorial optimization problems. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to apply opposition to combinatorics. We introduce two different methods of opposition to solve two different type of combinatorial optimization problems. The first technique, open-path opposition, is suited for combinatorial problems where the final node in the graph does not have be connected to the first node, such as the graph coloring problem. The latter technique, circular opposition, can be employed for problems where the endpoints of a graph are linked, such as the well-known traveling salesman problem (TSP). Both discrete opposition methods have been hybridized with biogeography-based optimization (BBO). Simulations on TSP benchmarks illustrate that incorporating opposition into BBO improves its performance.

Improved ant colony optimization algorithm for the traveling salesman problems

It is prone to get stuck in a local minimum when solving the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) by the traditional Hopfield neural network (HNN) and hard to converge to an efficient solution, resulting from the defect of the penalty method used by the HNN. In order to mend this defect, an accelerated augmented Lagrangian Hopfield neural network (AALHNN) algorithm was proposed in this paper. This algorithm gets out of the dilemma of penalty method by Lagrangian multiplier method, ensuring that the solution to the TSP is undoubtedly efficient. The second order factor added in the algorithm stabilizes the neural network dynamic model of the problem, thus improving the efficiency of solution. In this paper, when solving the TSP by AALHNN, some changes were made to the TSP models of Hopfield and Tank. Say, constraints of TSP are multiplied by Lagrange multipliers and augmented Lagrange multipliers respectively, The augmented Lagrange function composed of path length function can ensure robust convergence and escape from the local minimum trap. The Lagrange multipliers are updated by using nesterov acceleration technique. In addition, it was theoretically proved that the extremum obtained by this improved algorithm is the optimal solution of the initial problem and the approximate optimal solution of the TSP was successfully obtained several times in the simulation experiment. Compared with the traditional HNN, this method can ensure that it is effective for TSP solution and the solution to the TSP obtained is better.

Generalized traveling salesman problem (GTSP) is an extension of classical traveling salesman problem (TSP), which is a combinatorial optimization problem and an NP-hard problem. In this paper, an efficient discrete state transition algorithm (DSTA) for GTSP is proposed, where a new local search operator named \textit{K-circle}, directed by neighborhood information in space, has been introduced to DSTA to shrink search space and strengthen search ability. A novel robust update mechanism, restore in probability and risk in probability (Double R-Probability), is used in our work to escape from local minima. The proposed algorithm is tested on a set of GTSP instances. Compared with other heuristics, experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness and strong adaptability of DSTA and also show that DSTA has better search ability than its competitors.

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) represents a widespread nature-based metaheuristic algorithm which solves combinatorial optimization problems effectively [1]. This research study examines ACO-based solutions for Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and 0-1 Knapsack Problem (0-1 KP) which are both identified as NP-hard problems. ACO successfully achieves near-optimal solutions because it duplicates real ants' pheromone-based foraging approach and operates between exploration and exploitation modes effectively. This review discusses ACO-based methods for solving complex problems through a discussion of modern solution methods and their evaluation results and performance benefits over basic optimization approaches. This section presents solutions for optimization challenges which include computational complexity and two additional problems through hybrid models while exploring adaptive parameter adjustments as well as quantum-inspired optimizations [2]. The development of ACO methods aims at combining this algorithm with deep learning and reinforcement learning approaches to boost its operational speed and practical performance across dynamic operational contexts. The findings suggest that ACO remains a promising optimization technique with vast potential for solving large-scale combinatorial problems in various domains [3].

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) with neighbourhoods extends the TSP to the case where each vertex of the tour is allowed to move in a given region. This NP-hard optimization problem has recently received increasing attention in several technical fields such as robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles, or utility management. In this paper, the problem is formulated as a non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear programme (MINLP) having the property that fixing all the integer variables to any integer values yield a convex nonlinear programme. This property is used to modify the global MINLP optimizer Couenne, improving by orders of magnitude its performance and allowing the exact solution of instances large enough to be useful in applications. Computational results are presented where neighbourhoods are either polyhedra or ellipsoids in ℝ2 or ℝ3 and with the Euclidean norm as distance metric.

Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a well-known NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. The Particle Swarm Optimization has been proven to succeed in lots of problems, but the PSO algorithm is challenging due to a variety of factors such as easy to fall into local optimal solution and the convergence speed is slow in the later. In this paper, we propose an adaptive mutation multi-particle swarm optimization algorithm (AMPSO) to the TSP. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieves better performance compared to the standard PSO method to solve the TSP.