Parallel Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

Abstract –Ant colony optimization algorithm is a good way to solve complex multi-stage decision problems. But the construc-tion graph and computation steps for an ant to construct a solu-tion in the construction graph will be exponentially increased, if the stage number and decision variable dimension of complex multi-stage decision problem are increasing. It will cause the ant colony optimization algorithm can not be computed by a single PC. Therefore, a parallel ant colony optimization algorithm based on the construction graph decomposition is presented to solve this problem. The parallel ant colony optimization algo-rithm decomposes the construction graph into some parts and each part is placed on different PC. The whole computation task is accomplished by mutual cooperation in the PCs which join in the computation. Experiment has verified that it can solve this problem and improve the computation efficiency