Title: A multi-objective hybrid metaheuristic for zone definition procedure

Authors: Chin-Wei Bong, Yin-Chai Wang

Addresses: Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan 94300, Sarawak, Malaysia. ' Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan 94300, Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract: Zone Definition Procedure (ZDP) is defined as the drawing of territory lines for geographical zones for space control. It is a spatial multiple criteria decision problem but there is limited research attempts in this aspect. Therefore, this paper presents a multi-objective hybrid metaheuristic for ZDP based on multi-objective definition. It is a more realistic solution to the real-world ZDP problem because it helps to consider the relationship among objectives with dominancy comparison among different objectives. The fusion of Tabu Search (TS), Scatter Search (SS) and Path Relinking (PR) was used in the ZDP search process. The exploration of the solution space is based on the strategic oscillation philosophy. An evaluation on the proposed one is done with a commonly used single objective hybrid metaheuristic. This study has conducted several testing and experiments to compare the quality of the results and computation effectiveness of the two approaches.

Keywords: soft-computing; metaheuristics; multiple criteria decision-making; MCDM; zone definition procedure; space control; tabu search; scatter search; path relinking; territory lines.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2006.010194

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.146 - 164

Published online: 08 Jul 2006 *

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