Showing papers on "Ant colony optimization algorithms published in 2015"

A Comprehensive Survey on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm and Its Applications

Abstract: Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a heuristic global optimization method, proposed originally by Kennedy and Eberhart in 1995. It is now one of the most commonly used optimization techniques. This survey presented a comprehensive investigation of PSO. On one hand, we provided advances with PSO, including its modifications (including quantum-behaved PSO, bare-bones PSO, chaotic PSO, and fuzzy PSO), population topology (as fully connected, von Neumann, ring, star, random, etc.), hybridization (with genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, Tabu search, artificial immune system, ant colony algorithm, artificial bee colony, differential evolution, harmonic search, and biogeography-based optimization), extensions (to multiobjective, constrained, discrete, and binary optimization), theoretical analysis (parameter selection and tuning, and convergence analysis), and parallel implementation (in multicore, multiprocessor, GPU, and cloud computing forms). On the other hand, we offered a survey on applications of PSO to the following eight fields: electrical and electronic engineering, automation control systems, communication theory, operations research, mechanical engineering, fuel and energy, medicine, chemistry, and biology. It is hoped that this survey would be beneficial for the researchers studying PSO algorithms.

How effective is the Grey Wolf optimizer in training multi-layer perceptrons

Abstract: This paper employs the recently proposed Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) for training Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) for the first time. Eight standard datasets including five classification and three function-approximation datasets are utilized to benchmark the performance of the proposed method. For verification, the results are compared with some of the most well-known evolutionary trainers: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Evolution Strategy (ES), and Population-based Incremental Learning (PBIL). The statistical results prove the GWO algorithm is able to provide very competitive results in terms of improved local optima avoidance. The results also demonstrate a high level of accuracy in classification and approximation of the proposed trainer.

A new hybrid method based on Particle Swarm Optimization, Ant Colony Optimization and 3-Opt algorithms for Traveling Salesman Problem

Abstract: The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the standard test problems used in performance analysis of discrete optimization algorithms. The Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm appears among heuristic algorithms used for solving discrete optimization problems. In this study, a new hybrid method is proposed to optimize parameters that affect performance of the ACO algorithm using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). In addition, 3-Opt heuristic method is added to proposed method in order to improve local solutions. The PSO algorithm is used for detecting optimum values of parameters α and β which are used for city selection operations in the ACO algorithm and determines significance of inter-city pheromone and distances. The 3-Opt algorithm is used for the purpose of improving city selection operations, which could not be improved due to falling in local minimums by the ACO algorithm. The performance of proposed hybrid method is investigated on ten different benchmark problems taken from literature and it is compared to the performance of some well-known algorithms. Experimental results show that the performance of proposed method by using fewer ants than the number of cities for the TSPs is better than the performance of compared methods in most cases in terms of solution quality and robustness.

A Multi-Objective Optimization Scheduling Method Based on the Ant Colony Algorithm in Cloud Computing

Abstract: For task-scheduling problems in cloud computing, a multi-objective optimization method is proposed here. First, with an aim toward the biodiversity of resources and tasks in cloud computing, we propose a resource cost model that defines the demand of tasks on resources with more details. This model reflects the relationship between the user’s resource costs and the budget costs. A multi-objective optimization scheduling method has been proposed based on this resource cost model. This method considers the makespan and the user’s budget costs as constraints of the optimization problem, achieving multi-objective optimization of both performance and cost. An improved ant colony algorithm has been proposed to solve this problem. Two constraint functions were used to evaluate and provide feedback regarding the performance and budget cost. These two constraint functions made the algorithm adjust the quality of the solution in a timely manner based on feedback in order to achieve the optimal solution. Some simulation experiments were designed to evaluate this method’s performance using four metrics: 1) the makespan; 2) cost; 3) deadline violation rate; and 4) resource utilization. Experimental results show that based on these four metrics, a multi-objective optimization method is better than other similar methods, especially as it increased 56.6% in the best case scenario.

Cloud task scheduling based on ant colony optimization.

Abstract: Cloud computing is the development of distributed computing, parallel computing and grid computing, or defined as the commercial implementation of these computer science concepts. One of the fundamental issues in this environment is related to task scheduling. Cloud task scheduling is an NP-hard optimization problem, and many meta-heuristic algorithms have been proposed to solve it. A good task scheduler should adapt its scheduling strategy to the changing environment and the types of tasks. In this paper a cloud task scheduling policy based on ant colony optimization algorithm compared with different scheduling algorithms FCFS and round-robin, has been presented. The main goal of these algorithms is minimizing the makespan of a given tasks set. Ant colony optimization is random optimization search approach that will be used for allocating the incoming jobs to the virtual machines. Algorithms have been simulated using Cloudsim toolkit package. Experimental results showed that the ant colony optimization outperformed FCFS and round-robin algorithms.

Simultaneous Reconfiguration, Optimal Placement of DSTATCOM, and Photovoltaic Array in a Distribution System Based on Fuzzy-ACO Approach

Abstract: In this paper, a combination of a fuzzy multiobjective approach and ant colony optimization (ACO) as a metaheuristic algorithm is used to solve the simultaneous reconfiguration and optimal allocation (size and location) of photovoltaic (PV) arrays as a distributed generation (DG) and distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) as a distribution flexible ac transmission system (DFACT) device in a distribution system. The purpose of this research includes loss reduction, voltage profile (VP) improvement, and increase in the feeder load balancing (LB). The proposed method is validated using the IEEE 33-bus test system and a Tai-Power 11.4-kV distribution system as a real distribution network. The results proved that simultaneous reconfiguration and optimal allocation of PV array and DSTATCOM unit leads to significantly reduced losses, improved VP, and increased LB. Obtained results have been compared with the base value and found that simultaneous placement of PV and DSTATCOM along with reconfiguration is more beneficial than separate single-objective optimization. Also, the proposed fuzzy-ACO approach is more accurate as compared to ACO and other intelligent techniques like fuzzy-genetic algorithm (GA) and fuzzy-particle swarm optimization (PSO).

Artificial algae algorithm (AAA) for nonlinear global optimization

Abstract: This study proposes a novel bio-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm called artificial algae algorithm (AAA).The algorithm is based on evolutionary process, adaptation process and the movement of microalgae.The performance of the algorithm has been verified on various benchmark functions and a real-world design optimization problem.The results show that AAA is a balanced and consistent algorithm. In this study, a novel bio-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm called artificial algae algorithm (AAA) inspired by the living behaviors of microalgae, photosynthetic species, is introduced. The algorithm is based on evolutionary process, adaptation process and the movement of microalgae. The performance of the algorithm has been verified on various benchmark functions and a real-world design optimization problem. The CEC'05 function set was employed as benchmark functions and the test results were compared with the algorithms of Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Bee Algorithm (BA), Differential Evolution (DE), Ant Colony Optimization for continuous domain (ACOR) and Harmony Search (HSPOP). The pressure vessel design optimization problem, which is one of the widely used optimization problems, was used as a sample real-world design optimization problem to test the algorithm. In order to compare the results on the mentioned problem, the methods including ABC and Standard PSO (SPSO2011) were used. Mean, best, standard deviation values and convergence curves were employed for the analyses of performance. Furthermore, mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), which are computed as a result of using the errors of algorithms on functions, were used for the general performance comparison. AAA produced successful and balanced results over different dimensions of the benchmark functions. It is a consistent algorithm having balanced search qualifications. Because of the contribution of adaptation and evolutionary process, semi-random selection employed while choosing the source of light in order to avoid local minima, and balancing of helical movement methods each other. Moreover, in tested real-world application AAA produced consistent results and it is a stable algorithm.

A research survey: review of AI solution strategies of job shop scheduling problem

Abstract: This paper focus on artificial intelligence approaches to NP-hard job shop scheduling (JSS) problem In the literature successful approaches of artificial intelligence techniques such as neural network, genetic algorithm, multi agent systems, simulating annealing, bee colony optimization, ant colony optimization, particle swarm algorithm, etc are presented as solution approaches to job shop scheduling problem These studies are surveyed and their successes are listed in this article

A new approach for dynamic fuzzy logic parameter tuning in Ant Colony Optimization and its application in fuzzy control of a mobile robot

Abstract: Central idea is to avoid or slow down full convergence through the dynamic variation of parameters.Performance of different ACO variants was observed to choose one as the basis to the proposed approach.Convergence fuzzy controller with the objective of maintaining diversity to avoid premature convergence was created. Ant Colony Optimization is a population-based meta-heuristic that exploits a form of past performance memory that is inspired by the foraging behavior of real ants. The behavior of the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is highly dependent on the values defined for its parameters. Adaptation and parameter control are recurring themes in the field of bio-inspired optimization algorithms. The present paper explores a new fuzzy approach for diversity control in Ant Colony Optimization. The main idea is to avoid or slow down full convergence through the dynamic variation of a particular parameter. The performance of different variants of the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is analyzed to choose one as the basis to the proposed approach. A convergence fuzzy logic controller with the objective of maintaining diversity at some level to avoid premature convergence is created. Encouraging results on several traveling salesman problem instances and its application to the design of fuzzy controllers, in particular the optimization of membership functions for a unicycle mobile robot trajectory control are presented with the proposed method.

Integration of graph clustering with ant colony optimization for feature selection

Abstract: A novel supervised filter-based feature selection method using ACO is proposed.Our method integrates graph clustering with a modified ant colony search process.Each feature set is evaluated using a novel measure without using any learning model.The sizes of the final feature set is determined automatically.The method is compared to the state-of-the-art filter and wrapper based methods. Feature selection is an important preprocessing step in machine learning and pattern recognition. The ultimate goal of feature selection is to select a feature subset from the original feature set to increase the performance of learning algorithms. In this paper a novel feature selection method based on the graph clustering approach and ant colony optimization is proposed for classification problems. The proposed method's algorithm works in three steps. In the first step, the entire feature set is represented as a graph. In the second step, the features are divided into several clusters using a community detection algorithm and finally in the third step, a novel search strategy based on the ant colony optimization is developed to select the final subset of features. Moreover the selected subset of each ant is evaluated using a supervised filter based method called novel separability index. Thus the proposed method does not need any learning model and can be classified as a filter based feature selection method. The proposed method integrates the community detection algorithm with a modified ant colony based search process for the feature selection problem. Furthermore, the sizes of the constructed subsets of each ant and also size of the final feature subset are determined automatically. The performance of the proposed method has been compared to those of the state-of-the-art filter and wrapper based feature selection methods on ten benchmark classification problems. The results show that our method has produced consistently better classification accuracies.

A new fuzzy time series forecasting model combined with ant colony optimization and auto-regression

Abstract: This paper presents a new fuzzy time series model combined with ant colony optimization (ACO) and auto-regression. The ACO is adopted to obtain a suitable partition of the universe of discourse to promote the forecasting performance. Furthermore, the auto-regression method is adopted instead of the traditional high-order method to make better use of historical information, which is proved to be more practical. To calculate coefficients of different orders, autocorrelation is used to calculate the initial values and then the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm is employed to optimize these coefficients. Actual trading data of Taiwan capitalization weighted stock index is used as benchmark data. Computational results show that the proposed model outperforms other existing models.

Size optimization for hybrid photovoltaic-wind energy system using ant colony optimization for continuous domains based integer programming

Abstract: ACOR based integer programming is employed for size optimization.The objective function of the hybrid PV-wind system is the total design cost.Decision variables are number of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries.A complete data set, an optimization formulation and ACOR are benefits of this paper. In this paper, ant colony optimization for continuous domains (ACOR) based integer programming is employed for size optimization in a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-wind energy system. ACOR is a direct extension of ant colony optimization (ACO). Also, it is the significant ant-based algorithm for continuous optimization. In this setting, the variables are first considered as real then rounded in each step of iteration. The number of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries are selected as decision variables of integer programming problem. The objective function of the PV-wind system design is the total design cost which is the sum of total capital cost and total maintenance cost that should be minimized. The optimization is separately performed for three renewable energy systems including hybrid systems, solar stand alone and wind stand alone. A complete data set, a regular optimization formulation and ACOR based integer programming are the main features of this paper. The optimization results showed that this method gives the best results just in few seconds. Also, the results are compared with other artificial intelligent (AI) approaches and a conventional optimization method. Moreover, the results are very promising and prove that the authors' proposed approach outperforms them in terms of reaching an optimal solution and speed.

Adaptive directional overcurrent relay coordination using ant colony optimisation

Abstract: The coordination of directional overcurrent relays is most commonly studied based on a fixed network topology within an interconnected power system. Due to its complexity and non-linearity, the relay coordination is formulated as an optimisation problem. Distribution systems often suffer consequences due to the dynamic changes of network topology and operation of elements. Such changes are for example the inputs and outputs of generators, lines and loads. The consequences are reduction of sensitivity and selectivity of relays. The principal objective of this study is to coordinate the directional overcurrent relays based on adaptive protection scheme. The secondary objective is to present the formulation of ant colony algorithm and a comparison of it with the genetic algorithm.

A hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm for VM scheduling with load balancing in cloud computing

Abstract: Virtual machine (VM) scheduling with load balancing in cloud computing aims to assign VMs to suitable servers and balance the resource usage among all of the servers. In an infrastructure-as-a-service framework, there will be dynamic input requests, where the system is in charge of creating VMs without considering what types of tasks run on them. Therefore, scheduling that focuses only on fixed task sets or that requires detailed task information is not suitable for this system. This paper combines ant colony optimization and particle swarm optimization to solve the VM scheduling problem, with the result being known as ant colony optimization with particle swarm (ACOPS). ACOPS uses historical information to predict the workload of new input requests to adapt to dynamic environments without additional task information. ACOPS also rejects requests that cannot be satisfied before scheduling to reduce the computing time of the scheduling procedure. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can keep the load balance in a dynamic environment and outperform other approaches.

Improved particle swarm optimization algorithm and its application in text feature selection

Abstract: We proposed three improved Particle swarm optimization models based on a common PSO model and two improved PSO models.Selecting Reuters-21578 as the corpus, six experiments are conducted respectively using improved PSO models.Combining asynchronously inertia weight and constriction factor is the best program.Paired-sample T-tests demonstrate the validness of our best program. Text feature selection is an importance step in text classification and directly affects the classification performance. Classic feature selection methods mainly include document frequency (DF), information gain (IG), mutual information (MI), chi-square test (CHI). Theoretically, these methods are difficult to get improvement due to the deficiency of their mathematical models. In order to further improve effect of feature selection, many researches try to add intelligent optimization algorithms into feature selection method, such as improved ant colony algorithm and genetic algorithms, etc. Compared to the ant colony algorithm and genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is simpler to implement and can find the optimal point quickly. Thus, this paper attempt to improve the effect of text feature selection through PSO. By analyzing current achievements of improved PSO and characteristic of classic feature selection methods, we have done many explorations in this paper. Above all, we selected the common PSO model, the two improved PSO models based respectively on functional inertia weight and constant constriction factor to optimize feature selection methods. Afterwards, according to constant constriction factor, we constructed a new functional constriction factor and added it into traditional PSO model. Finally, we proposed two improved PSO models based on both functional constriction factor and functional inertia weight, they are respectively the synchronously improved PSO model and the asynchronously improved PSO model. In our experiments, CHI was selected as the basic feature selection method. We improved CHI through using the six PSO models mentioned above. The experiment results and significance tests show that the asynchronously improved PSO model is the best one among all models both in the effect of text classification and in the stability of different dimensions.

Hybridized ant colony algorithm for the Multi Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem

Abstract: Hybridized ant colony algorithm has been proposed to solve the Multi Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem.Numerical experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the algorithm.The numerical results showed that the average total length improvement of the proposed HAC over the existing ACS is 5.1%. In addition, the proposed HAC maintains its high performance in large problems on contrary of the existing ACS.The numerical result for the effect of hybridizing the ant colony algorithm with local search schemes has been presented.Illustration of the benefit of using two-compartment vehicles instead of single-compartment vehicles has been presented. Multi Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem is an extension of the classical Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem where different products are transported together in one vehicle with multiple compartments. Products are stored in different compartments because they cannot be mixed together due to differences in their individual characteristics. The problem is encountered in many industries such as delivery of food and grocery, garbage collection, marine vessels, etc. We propose a hybridized algorithm which combines local search with an existent ant colony algorithm to solve the problem. Computational experiments are performed on new generated benchmark problem instances. An existing ant colony algorithm and the proposed hybridized ant colony algorithm are compared. It was found that the proposed ant colony algorithm gives better results as compared to the existing ant colony algorithm.

Feature decision-making ant colony optimization system for an automated recognition of plant species

Abstract: Design an expert system with application of automatic plant species classification.Using ant colony optimization for selection of discriminant features.Propose an evaluation function for measurement of quality of the selected features.Test and validate the proposed method and improvement of classification performance. In the present paper, an expert system for automatic recognition of different plant species through their leaf images is investigated by employing the ant colony optimization (ACO) as a feature decision-making algorithm. The ACO algorithm is employed to investigate inside the feature search space in order to obtain the best discriminant features for the recognition of individual species. In order to establish a feature search space, a set of feasible characteristics such as shape, morphology, texture and color are extracted from the leaf images. The selected features are used by support vector machine (SVM) to classify the species. The efficiency of the system was tested on around 2050 leaf images collected from two different plant databases, FCA and Flavia. The results of the study achieved an average accuracy of 95.53% from the ACO-based approach, confirming the potentials of using the proposed system for an automatic classification of various plant species.