Two-stage Genetic Algorithm for Set Covering Problem

Paper proposed an efficient two-stage genetic algorithm to solve set covering problem with large scale.Two-stage genetic algorithm can be divided into two stages: the data reduction stage and the heuristic problem solving stage.This paper formally describes related definitions,theorem and algorithms in the data reduction stage and proves the proposed reduction method is useful;then gives the design of selection,crossover,and mutation operator of the genetic algorithm.The results on 45 set covering instances proposed by Beasley verify that the proposed two-stage genetic algorithm is higher than other genetic algorithms both on efficiency and resolution quality.