Handbook of Ant Colony Optimisation, Methods and Techniques

The complex social behaviours of ants have been much studied by science, and computer scientists are now finding that these behaviour patterns can provide models for solving difficult combinatorial optimization problems. The attempt to develop algorithms inspired by one aspect of ant behaviour, the ability to find what computer scientists would call shortest paths, has become the field of ant colony optimization, the most successful and widely recognized algorithmic technique based on ant behaviour. This book presents an overview of this rapidly growing field, from its theoretical inception to practical applications, including descriptions of many available ACO algorithms and their uses.