scholarly journals Algorithmic-Information Theory interpretation to the Traveling Salesman Problem

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matheus Santana Lima

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a important optimization problem in computer science, mathematics and logistics. It belongs to the class of NP-Hard problems and can be very time consuming to find solutions to large instances with guarantee optimality. As number of city-nodes in the graph increases, the amount of valid route tours also growths rapidly and thus requiring considerable time to evaluate and classify each permutation. The objective of the heuristic process is to search the solution space for the optimal solution while maximizing the attached utility-cost function (i.e. finding the shortest euclidean distance tour) and minimizing the computational time complexity of the algorithm.Many complex real world scenarios can be reduced to a simulation of a salesman trying to find the shortest (length) Hamiltonian (cycle) route in a euclidean super-graph G*. If each city-node is modeled as a input symbol in a communication channel represented by an output pair with consistent probabilities distribution thus an polynomial-time probabilistic algorithm can use this information to improve the solution quality at the same rate of transmission of information over the channel.In this paper we explore an quantitative stochastic process based in Algorithm Information Theory and the Shannon-Kelly criterion to find valid near optimal solutions using a new growth- optimal strategy applied to the TSP problem that have statistically significant transmission rate even when no encoding scheme is available, regardless of time-complexity of the problem.Previous heuristics such as 2 opt, Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) approach’s the TSP problem by relying on a priori knowledge about the data distribution in order to reduce the probability of error in finding the best candidate solution tour.In this work we propose a method that models the solution space boundaries of the TSP problem as a communication channel by means of Information Theory. We describe a search algorithm that check for patterns (i.e information content) in the elements of a constrained solution space modeled as messages transmitted through communication systems. The boundaries of the search space are defined by the Kolmogorov complexity of the candidate solutions sequences. We conclude with an discussion about the quality of the results and implications for general decision problem in Turing machines.

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandi Baressi Šegota ◽  
Ivan Lorencin ◽  
Kazuhiro Ohkura ◽  
Zlatan Car

The Traveling salesman problem (TSP) defines the problem of finding the optimal path between multiple points, connected by paths of a certain cost. This paper applies that problem formulation in the maritime environment, specifically a path planning problem for a tour boat visiting popular tourist locations in Medulin, Croatia. The problem is solved using two evolutionary computing methods – the genetic algorithm (GA) and the simulated annealing (SA) - and comparing the results (are compared) by an extensive search of the solution space. The results show that evolutionary computing algorithms provide comparable results to an extensive search in a shorter amount of time, with SA providing better results of the two.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho-Yoeng Yun ◽  
Suk-Jae Jeong ◽  
Kyung-Sup Kim

We propose a novel heuristic algorithm based on the methods of advanced Harmony Search and Ant Colony Optimization (AHS-ACO) to effectively solve the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The TSP, in general, is well known as an NP-complete problem, whose computational complexity increases exponentially by increasing the number of cities. In our algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is used to search the local optimum in the solution space, followed by the use of the Harmony Search to escape the local optimum determined by the ACO and to move towards a global optimum. Experiments were performed to validate the efficiency of our algorithm through a comparison with other algorithms and the optimum solutions presented in the TSPLIB. The results indicate that our algorithm is capable of generating the optimum solution for most instances in the TSPLIB; moreover, our algorithm found better solutions in two cases (kroB100 and pr144) when compared with the optimum solution presented in the TSPLIB.


1997 ◽  
Vol 08 (05) ◽  
pp. 1095-1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Argollo de Menezes ◽  
T. J. P. Penna

In this work we revisit the Hopfield–Tank algorithm for the traveling salesman problem (J. J. Hopfield and D. W. Tank, Biol. Cybern. 52, 141 (1985)) and report encouraging results, with a different dynamics, that makes the algorithm more efficient, finding better solutions in much less computational time.


Author(s):  
Weiqi Li

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is presumably difficult to solve exactly using local search algorithms. It can be exactly solved by only one algorithm—the enumerative search algorithm. However, the scanning of all possible solutions requires exponential computing time. Do we need exploring all the possibilities to find the optimal solution? How can we narrow down the search space effectively and efficiently for an exhausted search? This chapter attempts to answer these questions. A local search algorithm is a discrete dynamical system, in which a search trajectory searches a part of the solution space and stops at a locally optimal point. A solution attractor of a local search system for the TSP is defined as a subset of the solution space that contains all locally optimal tours. The solution attractor concept gives us great insight into the computational complexity of the TSP. If we know where the solution attractor is located in the solution space, we simply completely search the solution attractor, rather than the entire solution space, to find the globally optimal tour. This chapter describes the solution attractor of local search system for the TSP and then presents a novel search system—the attractor-based search system—that can solve the TSP much efficiently with global optimality guarantee.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiqi Li

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is believed to be an intractable problem and have no practically efficient algorithm to solve it. The intrinsic difficulty of the TSP is associated with the combinatorial explosion of potential solutions in the solution space. When a TSP instance is large, the number of possible solutions in the solution space is so large as to forbid an exhaustive search for the optimal solutions. The seemingly “limitless” increase of computational power will not resolve its genuine intractability. Do we need to explore all the possibilities in the solution space to find the optimal solutions? This chapter offers a novel perspective trying to overcome the combinatorial complexity of the TSP. When we design an algorithm to solve an optimization problem, we usually ask the critical question: “How can we find all exact optimal solutions and how do we know that they are optimal in the solution space?” This chapter introduces the Attractor-Based Search System (ABSS) that is specifically designed for the TSP. This chapter explains how the ABSS answer this critical question. The computing complexity of the ABSS is also discussed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Paulo Henrique Siqueira ◽  
Sérgio Scheer ◽  
Maria Teresinha Arns Steiner

Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Jin Zhang ◽  
Li Hong ◽  
Qing Liu

The whale optimization algorithm is a new type of swarm intelligence bionic optimization algorithm, which has achieved good optimization results in solving continuous optimization problems. However, it has less application in discrete optimization problems. A variable neighborhood discrete whale optimization algorithm for the traveling salesman problem (TSP) is studied in this paper. The discrete code is designed first, and then the adaptive weight, Gaussian disturbance, and variable neighborhood search strategy are introduced, so that the population diversity and the global search ability of the algorithm are improved. The proposed algorithm is tested by 12 classic problems of the Traveling Salesman Problem Library (TSPLIB). Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm has better optimization performance and higher efficiency compared with other popular algorithms and relevant literature.


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