EVOLUTIONARY NETWORK DESIGN: HYBRID GENETIC ALGORITHMS APPROACH

Abstract

In recent years we have evidenced an extensive effort in the development of computer communication networks, which have deeply integrated in human being's everyday life. One of the important aspects of the network design process is the topological design problem involved in establishing a communication network. However, with the increase of the problem scale, the conventional techniques are facing the challenge to effectively and efficiently solve those complicated network design problems. In this article, we give a brief survey on our recent research works of network design problems by using genetic algorithms (GAs), such as, multistage process planning problem, fixed charge transportation problem, minimum spanning tree problem, centralized network design, and local area network design, shortest path problem, minimum cost maximum flow problem, and optimal scheduling problems based on network topology. All these problems are illustrated from the point of genetic representation encoding skill and the genetic operators with hybrid strategies. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness and efficiency of such kind of GA-based approach.