Hybrid Algorithm for Solving the Quadratic Assignment Problem

Abstract

T HE quadratic assignment problem (QAP) is one of the known classical combinatorial optimization problems, in 1976 Sahni and Gonzalez [1] proved that the QAP belongs to the class of NP-hard problems [1]. It was introduced for the first time by Koopmans and Beckmann in 1957 [2]; its purpose is to assign n facilities to n fixed locations with a given flow matrix of facilities and distance matrix of locations in order to minimize the total assignment cost. This problem is applied in various fields such as hospital layout [3], scheduling parallel production lines [4] and analyzing chemical reactions for organic compounds [5].Many recent hybrid approaches have improved performance in solving QAP such as genetic algorithm hybridized with tabu search method [6], ant colony optimization mixed with local search method [7] and ant colony optimization combined with genetic algorithm and local search method [8]. Recently the hybrid algorithms are much proposed and used by many researchers to find optimal or near optimal solutions for the QAP.In this paper we propose a new competitive approach when compared with other existing methods in the literature. The golden ball algorithm mixed with simulated annealing (GBSA) is considered here as a hybrid metaheuristic to apply in the quadratic assignment problem.This work presents an efficient adaptation of GBSA algorithm to the quadratic assignment problem (QAP). This algorithm is based on the concept of soccer; it guides the search by simulated annealing [9] to escape from the local optima. The suggested technique has never been proposed or tested with QAP. In this research we use some small, medium and large test problems for comparing our approach to other recent methods from literature. Our approach is able to explore effectively the search space; it reaches the known optimal solutions in less time.The rest of this paper is structured as follows: In section I, Introduction. In section II, Quadratic assignment problem formulation. In section III, Methods. In section IV, Results and discussion. In section V, Conclusion. KeywordsCombinatorial Optimization, Golden Ball Algorithm, Simulated Annealing, Quadratic Assignment Problem. AbstractThe Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) is a combinatorial optimization problem; it belongs to the class of NP-hard problems. This problem is applied in various fields such as hospital layout, scheduling parallel production lines and analyzing chemical reactions for organic compounds. In this paper we propose an application of Golden Ball algorithm mixed with Simulated Annealing (GBSA) to solve QAP. This algorithm is based on different concepts of football. The simulated annealing search can be blocked in a local optimum due to the unacceptable movements; our proposed strategy guides the simulated annealing search to escape from the local optima and to explore in an efficient way the search space. To validate the proposed approach, numerous simulations were conducted on 64 instances of QAPLIB to compare GBSA with existing algorithms in the literatu...

A Novel Discrete Rat Swarm Optimization Algorithm for the Quadratic Assignment Problem

“…GBSA: The GBSA (generalized binomial search algorithm) [45] is an optimization algorithm that is based on the principle of binary search.…”

Development of a modified biogeography-based optimisation tool for solving the unequal-sized machine and multi-row configuration facility layout design problem

“…Conventional exact optimisation methods are inappropriate because they are not computationally efficient and cannot solve problems in reasonable time, especially for large-sized problems [9]. Metaheuristic algorithms have been used to solve many types of optimisation problem, such as quadratic assignment [10], scheduling [11,12], timetabling [13], airline flight routing [14], stochastic dynamic facility layout [15], and robust-design machine layout [16] and wind farm layout [17]. They are particularly suitable for solving large combinatorial optimisation problems because they can find good solutions within reasonable execution times [9].…”