Abstract:

A new approach was proposed for solving continuous optimization problems using ant an colony optimization(ACO) algorithm. The method maintains the framework of the classical ant colony algorithm, and replaces discrete summation by the continuous integral, and replaces discrete frequency distribution by continuous probability distribution in the ant selecting probability formula. The direction towards the maximum in each dimension was used as the heuristic information guiding the ants’ searching. Experimental results on benchmarks show that our algorithm not only has faster convergence speed but also effectively improves the accuracy of solution and enhances its robustness.

Key words: ant colony optimization(ACO); constrained optimization problems; continuous function