A multiple ant colonies optimization algorithm based on immunity for solving TSP

Abstract

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is a wellknown NP-hard problem and extensively studied problems in combinatorial optimization. Ant colony optimization algorithm (ACOA) has been used to solve many optimization problems in various fields of engineering. In this paper, a new algorithm was presented for solving TSP using ACOA based on immunity and multiple ant colonies. The new algorithm was tested on benchmark problems from TSPLIB and the test results were presented. The experimental results show that the new algorithm effectively relieves the tensions such as the premature, the convergence and the stagnation.