Title: Threshold accepting framework for discrete and continuous search spaces

Authors: Souhail Dhouib

Addresses: Research Unity of Logistic, Industrial Management and Quality, University of Sfax, Tunisia

Abstract: In this paper, a threshold accepting multi-agents (TA-MA) framework is proposed to optimise discrete and continuous problems. The TA-MA framework uses two agents, in each one a threshold accepting (TA) metaheuristic is started with different initial parameters. The cooperation between these agents is assured by an adaptive memory named taboo central memory (TCM). Computational experiments, on the single machine total weighted tardiness (SMTWT) problems and on two engineering design optimisation problems (the supported I-beam and the machine tool spindle), show that the proposed TA-MA algorithm can obtain the optimal solution or much better than the best known one for all standard benchmark problems instances from the literature.

Keywords: metaheuristics; simulated annealing algorithm; threshold accepting algorithms; discrete optimisation; continuous optimisation; discrete search spaces; continuous search spaces; multi-agent systems; MAS; agent-based systems; taboo central memory; total weighted tardiness; engineering design optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICA.2010.033649

International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications, 2010 Vol.2 No.3, pp.178 - 187

Received: 13 Mar 2010
Accepted: 16 Mar 2010
Published online: 13 Jun 2010 *

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