Traveling salesman problem with precedence constraints; Genetic algorithm; Topological sort; Optimization
Issue Date
2002-08
Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Citation
European Journal of Operational Research, v. 140, issue. 3, page. 606-617
Abstract
The traveling salesman problem with precedence constraints (TSPPC) is one of the most difficult combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, an efficient genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the TSPPC is presented. The key concept of the proposed GA is a topological sort (TS), which is defined as an ordering of vertices in a directed graph, Also, a new crossover operation is developed for the proposed GA. The results of numerical experiments show that the proposed GA produces an optimal solution and shows superior performance compared to the traditional algorithms. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.