A Threshold Accepting Metaheuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows.

Threshold Accepting, a variant of Simulated, Annealing, is applied for the first time to a set of 356 benchmark instances for the Vehicle Routing with Time Windows. The Threshold Accepting metaheuristic is used to improve upon results obtained with a recent parallel genetic algorithm and a multi-start local search to illustrate its value as a post-processor. The Threshold Accepting metaheuristic is shown to be a fast and versatile post-processor that can be imposed upon a variety of heuristic or metaheuristic approaches for vehicle routing to get better results in both theoretical and practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[1]  N. Metropolis,et al.  Equation of State Calculations by Fast Computing Machines , 1953, Resonance.

[2]  K. Dejong,et al.  An analysis of the behavior of a class of genetic adaptive systems , 1975 .

[3]  John H. Holland,et al.  Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence , 1992 .

[4]  C. D. Gelatt,et al.  Optimization by Simulated Annealing , 1983, Science.

[5]  Marius M. Solomon,et al.  Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems with Time Window Constraints , 1987, Oper. Res..

[6]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[7]  M M Solomon,et al.  VEHICLE ROUTING AND SCHEDULING PROBLEMS WITH TIME WINDOW CONSTRAINTS: EFFICIENT IMPLEMENTATIONS OF SOLUTION IMPROVEMENT PROCEDURES , 1988 .

[8]  Gerhard W. Dueck,et al.  Threshold accepting: a general purpose optimization algorithm appearing superior to simulated anneal , 1990 .

[9]  Fred Glover.  New Ejection Chain and Alternating Path Methods for Traveling Salesman Problems , 1992, Computer Science and Operations Research.

[10]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  New Insertion and Postoptimization Procedures for the Traveling Salesman Problem , 1992, Oper. Res..

[11]  Ibrahim H. Osman,et al.  Metastrategy simulated annealing and tabu search algorithms for the vehicle routing problem , 1993, Ann. Oper. Res..

[12]  Fred W. Glover,et al.  Tabu Thresholding: Improved Search by Nonmonotonic Trajectories , 1995, INFORMS J. Comput..

[13]  Yves Rochat,et al.  Probabilistic diversification and intensification in local search for vehicle routing , 1995, J. Heuristics.

[14]  Wen-Chyuan Chiang,et al.  A Reactive Tabu Search Metaheuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows , 1997, INFORMS J. Comput..

[15]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  A Tabu Search Heuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft Time Windows , 1997, Transp. Sci..

[16]  Paul Shaw,et al.  Using Constraint Programming and Local Search Methods to Solve Vehicle Routing Problems , 1998, CP.

[17]  É. Taillard,et al.  MACS-VRPTW: a multiple ant colony system for vehicle routing problems with time windows , 1999 .

[18]  Fuh-Hwa Franklin Liu,et al.  A route-neighborhood-based metaheuristic for vehicle routing problem with time windows , 1999, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[19]  Jörg Homberger,et al.  Two Evolutionary Metaheuristics For The Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows , 1999 .

[20]  Hermann Gehring,et al.  A Parallel Hybrid Evolutionary Metaheuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows , 1999 .

[21]  Roberto Cordone,et al.  A Heuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows , 2001, J. Heuristics.

[22]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  A unified tabu search heuristic for vehicle routing problems with time windows , 2001, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[23]  Jörg Homberger,et al.  Parallelization of a Two-Phase Metaheuristic for Routing Problems with Time Windows , 2002, J. Heuristics.

[24]  Olli Bräysy,et al.  A Reactive Variable Neighborhood Search for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Time Windows , 2003, INFORMS J. Comput..

[25]  Andrew Lim,et al.  Local search with annealing-like restarts to solve the VRPTW , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[26]  O. Bräysy,et al.  A Route-Directed Hybrid Genetic Approach For The Vehicle Routing Problem With Time Windows , 2003 .

[27]  Wout Dullaert,et al.  A multi-start local search algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows , 2004, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[28]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Evolutionary Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows , 2004, J. Heuristics.

[29]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows, Part I: Route Construction and Local Search Algorithms , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[30]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows, Part II: Metaheuristics , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[31]  Manuel Iori,et al.  Metaheuristic algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems , 2005, 4OR.