A new ACO transition rule for set partitioning and covering problems

Abstract

Set Covering Problem and Set Partitioning Problem are models for many important industrial applications. In this paper, we solve some Operational Research benchmarks with Ant Colony Optimization using a new transition rule. A Lookahead mechanism was incorporated to check constraint consistency in each iteration. Computational results are presented showing the advantages to use this additional mechanism to Ant Colony Optimization. © 2009 IEEE.