An Improved Partheno-Genetic Algorithm for Open Path Multi-Depot Multiple Traveling Salesmen Problem

Abstract

Abstract The Multiple traveling salesmen problem (MTSP) is a complex combinatorial optimization problem, which is an extension of the well-known traveling salesmen problem (TSP). Compared to TSP, MTSP is more suitable to model real-life problems. In this paper, an open path multi-depot multiple traveling salesmen problem (OPMDMTSP) is studied. For the problem studied, two different objectives are considered: minimizing the total cost of all sales staff and minimizing the longest travel length. For the OPMDMTSP, an improved partheno-genetic algorithm (IPGA) is proposed in this paper. In IPGA, a new selection operator that combining roulette selection and elitist selection is implemented. In addition, a more comprehensive mutation operation that introduces the propagation mechanism of invasive weed optimization algorithm is used. Extensive experiment that compares the proposed method with some state of the art methods shows that the IPGA is outperform other methods in terms of both solution quality and convergence ability.