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Kansou, Ali; Yassine, Adnan

Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant colony optimization
International Journal of Combinatorial Optimization Problems and Informatics, vol. 3, nm. 3, septiembrediciembre, 2012, pp. 20-34
International Journal of Combinatorial Optimization Problems and Informatics
Morelos, Mxico
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International Journal of Combinatorial

Optimization Problems and Informatics,
ISSN (Electronic Version): 2007-1558
editor@ijcopi.org
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 International Journal of Combinatorial Optimization Problems and Informatics, Vol. 3, No. 3,

Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

Splittingalgorithmsforthemultipledepotarcroutingproblem:
applicationbyantcolonyoptimization
AliKansou,AdnanYassine
LaboratoiredeMathmatiquesAppliquesduHavre,France.
InstitutSuprieurdEtudesLogistiques(ISEL),France.
ali.kansou@yahoo.fr and adnan.yassine@univlehavre.fr

Abstract.ThispaperhandlestheCapacitatedArcRoutingProblemwithMultipleDepots(MDCARP).
ThewellknownCARPproblemconsistsofdesigningasetofvehicletrips,sothateachvehiclestartsand
endsatthesingledepot. TheMDCARPonamixedgraphinvolvestheassignmentoftasks(arcsand
edges),whichhavetobeserved,todepotsandthedeterminationofvehicletripsforeachdepot.TheMD
CARPisNPhard,toresolveitefficiently,twoantcolonyapproachesaredeveloped.Thefirstproposed
workisbasedonantcolonyoptimization(ACO)combinedwithaninsertionheuristic:theACOisusedto
optimizetheorderofinsertionofthetasks,andtheheuristicisdevotedtoinsertingeachtaskinthe
solution. A generalization for the splitting method of Ulusoy is incorporated with the ant colony
optimizationinthesecondapproach.Computationalresultsonbenchmarkinstancesshowthegoodquality
oftheproposedmethodsandthesuperiorityofthefirstalgorithmcomparedtothesecondmethodonthe
largeinstances.Anotherexperimentalresultsofinstanceswithknownoptimasuggesttheperformanceof
thetwomethodsissignificantlybetterthanthemethodsofliterature.
Keywords:Capacitatedarcroutingproblem,MDCARPproblem,insertionheuristic,antcolonyoptimization.

1Introduction
ThepurposeofthispaperistopresenttwoantcolonyapproachesforanimportantextensionoftheclassicalCapacitatedArc
RoutingProblem(CARP):theMultiDepotCapacitatedArcRoutingProblem(MDCARP)onamixedgraph.TheMDCARP
problemisdefinedonanundirectedgraphG=(VnVd,E,A),whereVnisanodepotnodesset,Vdisadepotnodesset,Eisan
edgesetofGandAisanarcsetofG.Wecallby(i,j)alinkinEA.Thetraversalcostcijandthedemandqijofeachlink(i,j)
EAareknowninadvance.Eachlinkwhichhasastrictlypositivedemandiscalledatask(requirededgeorrequiredarc),
anditisanelementofasetRofrequiredlinks,R={(i,j)EA;qij>0}.WeassumethatmristhecardinalofR(|R|=mr)andnd
isthenumberofdepots.AfleetofidenticalvehicleswithlimitedcapacityQislocatedatthedepots.AllthedepotsofMD
CARPproblemhaveunlimitedcapacity.MDCARPconsistsofdeterminingasetofvehicleroutesofminimalcostsatisfying
thefollowingconditions:1.eachvehicleroutestartsandendsatthesamedepottowhichitisassigned,2.eachtaskisserved
onceandexactlyoncebyonevehicle,andfinally3.thetotaldemandoftheeveryroutedoesnotexceedthecapacityQ.
Inthispaper,wefocusontheMDCARPproblemwiththefollowingthreepoints:(1)Gisamixedgraph,thenwehavetwo
setsoflinks(alinkisanarcoredgeandarequiredlinkiscalledtask);(2)acosttovisitataskandanothercostforservingit;
(3)windyedge:anedgehavedifferentcostbyeachdirection.Tasksdonothavetobevisitedatallandfurther,anylink
(requiredornonrequired)canbevisitedanynumberoftimes,ifitneedstobetraversedmoreoftentoensurethatallrequired
edgesandarcsareserved.ThetotalcostofroutingisminimizedandthesetofallvehicleroutesformsafeasibleMDCARP
solution. TheMDCARP problem is NPhard andarises naturally ingarbage disposal,snowremoval andwinter gritting,
emergency,routingofstreetsweepers,schoolbusservice,electricpowerlinesandinspectionofgaspipelines,etc.

Received April 26, 2010 / Accepted Dec 31, 2011

Editorial Acadmica Dragn Azteca (EDITADA.ORG)

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

Originally,theCARPwasproposedbyGoldenandWong[15]andwerefertothesurveyofAssadandGolden(1995)formore
detailsabouttheCARPproblem.Amongtheusedmetaheuristics,wecitethesimulatedannealing(Li,1992andEglese,1994),
thetabusearch(Belenguer[3]etal.,Hertzetal.[17]andBrandoetal.[6]),thescattersearchofGreistorfer[16],thememetic
algorithmsbyPrinsandLacomme[20].Belengeuretal.[3]presentalowerandupperboundsandanewlowerboundswas
proposedbyWhlk[30]onthemixedCARP.Recently,thealgorithmsbasedonantcolonyoptimizationareappliedeffectively
ontheCARPproblembyLacomme[21],andonthemixedCARPproblembyBautista[2].
Toresolve themultidepot vehicle routingproblem (MDVRP)problem,several algorithms are available intheliterature.
Laporte[9]studiedafamilyofmultidepotasymmetricalproblemsandhavedevelopedexactbranchandboundalgorithmsand
tabu search algorithms. The early heuristics developed on the MDVRP problem, based on simple construction and
improvementprocedures,havebeendevelopedbyTillman[27],GillettandJohnson[12],Goldenetal.[15].Atabusearch
heuristicisdevelopedbyRenaudetal.[26]andCordeauetal.[9]whichisprobablythebestknownalgorithm.Twohybrid
geneticalgorithms(GA)arealsodevelopedbyHoetal.[18]wheretheMDVRPproblemisdividedintothreesubproblems:
Assigning customers to depots (grouping problem), assigning customers in each depot to routes (routing problem) and
sequencingeachrouteineverydepots(schedulingproblem).ThereexistheuristicsfortheCARPwithIntermediateFacilities
CARPIF,werefertotheworksofGhianietal.[13],Polaceketal.[25]basedonthevariableneighborhoodsearchalgorithm
VNSandtotheGhianietal.[14]forthearcroutingproblemwithintermediatefacilitiesundercapacityandlengthrestrictions
CLARPIF.In2006,Bouhafsetal.[5]proposedacombinationofsimulatedannealing(SA)andantcolonysystem(ACS)forthe
capacitatedlocationroutingproblemCLRP,wherethe(SA)searchingthegoodfacilityconfigurationandthe(ACS)constructs
agoodroutingthatcorrespondstothisconfiguration.
TheMDCARPproblemhasbeenstudiedbyAmbergetal.[1],wherearoutefirstclustersecondalgorithmisproposed.Whlk,
inherdissertation[29]consideredtheundirectedMDCARPwhenthevehicleshavevariousfixedcosts.Sheconsideredthe
MDCARPfromatheoreticalpointofviewandshegaveamathematicalmodelwithtwolowerboundsfortheroutingcostand
forthefixedcost.Zhuetal.[33]havedevelopedahybridgeneticalgorithmfortheMDCARPproblem.KansouandYassine
[19]haveusedtwoevolutionaryalgorithmstoresolvethesameproblem,wherethenetworkisanindirectedgraphandusing
deadheadingcostonly.Thefirstoneisbasedontheantcolonyoptimizationandaninsertionheuristic,thesecondoneisa
geneticalgorithmbasedonanspecificcrossover.AnevolutionaryalgorithmapproachtotheMDCARPwithtimelimited
servicewasdevelopedandevaluatedon20instances,withknownoptima,withup100nodesand360arcs(Xingetal.[31]).
Duetothecomplexityof theMDCARPproblem,theoptimalresolutionisextremelyexpensive.Inthiswork,totreatthe
problemeffectively,weproposetwodifferentmethodologiesbasedontheAntColonyOptimizationACO.Thefirstcombines
the ACO with an insertion heuristic, called hybrid ant colony optimization (HACO). The second one is based on the
generalizationofsplittingmethodtotheMDCARPproblemcombinedwiththeACO,calleddirectedantcolonyoptimization
withsplitting(DACOS).ThesplittingmethodofCARPproblems(withonedepot),calledsplit,developedbyLacommeetal.
[20],isgeneralizedinthisworktoadaptthemultidepotscases(MDCARPproblems)byaprocedure,calledmdsplit.
ThegoodresultsoftheACOobtainedontheproblems:binpackingproblemandPCARPproblem,wheretheresolutionby
ACOisequivalentandappropriatetotheMDCARPproblemonamixedgraph,motivatedustoapplythesameprincipleto
MDCARPproblem.AnACOisusedforthebinpackingproblembyLevineandDucatelle[23]andYalaouiandChu[32],so
thattheorderinwhichobjectsareplacedintobinsisoptimizedbytheACOandaninsertionmethodisusedtoinserttheobjects
intobins.KansouandYassine(2009)havedevelopedanACOmethodcombinedwithanheuristicmethodfortheperiodic
CARP(PCARP)problemandthishybridmethodoutperformsthegeneticalgorithmdevelopedbyLacommeetal.[20].The
samehybridmethodisappliedontheindirectedMDCARPin[19]bythesameauthors.Themaingoalofthisworkisto
develop the splitting method for the MDCARP and to prove their performance when integrate it with the evolutionary
algorithms.ThenoveltyofthepresentpaperisthatweapplytwoapproachestotheresolutionofMDCARPproblem,hybrid
ACOmethodandACOmethodwithsplittingMDCARPsolutionsthathavenotbeentriedbefore.
TheMDCARPproblemispresentedinSection2byanexample. Themathematicalmodeloftheproblemisproposedin
Section3.ResolutionmethodsaredevelopedrespectivelyinSection4andSection5.Section6isdevotedtocomputational
results:thecomparisonbetweenthetwomethodsandthealgorithmsofliteratureispresentedafterapreliminarytestingisdone
onmultidepotdatathatweadaptedandontheinstanceswithknownoptima.Finally,ourconclusionispresentedinSection7.

21

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

2AnMDCARPexamplesolution
Forwhatfollows,wetransform Gintoagraph =(V, W, B),where V isanewvertexset(thesetoftasks).Eachtask pV
representsarequiredlinkarcoranonedirectionofarequirededgeofG.Ifpisadirectionofedge,theotherdirectionforthe
sametaskisnotedby p V .Ifpisanarclink,wetake p=0 .EachtaskpVhasaroutingcostcpandademandqp>0.Wis
asetofnodepotnodes.BisasetofthefictitiouslinksthatareevaluatedbythecostsofshortestpathscalculatedbyDijkstra
algorithmandlinkingnodesofVW.Then,foreachlink(p,q)BweassociateacostD(p,q)andtheMDCARPproblemwill
beseenasaMDVRPproblemexceptthatfortheMDCARPproblem,wetakeintoaccount,bothdirectionsofatask(see
Belengueretal.[3]ontheperiodicCARP).Fromeachtaskpair, { p , p} ,exactlyonedirectionisselectedtoappearinaMD
CARPsolution,andeachtaskischosenexactlyonce,withnotaskleftoutofasolution.
InFigure1,anMDCARPexamplesolutionwitheleventasks(thicklines,thetasksareonlyedgesinthisexample)identified
byindexesfrom1to11andthreedepots(D1,D2andD3),isconsidered.(x,y)coordinatesaregivenforthedepots(inbrackets
undereachdepot)andforeachtask(atitsextremities),andthedemandassociatedwitheachtasktisgiveninbrackets.For
example,(1,7)and(1,10)arethe(x,y)coordinatesand(3)isthedemandoftask3(Q=7).Thinlinesrepresenttheshortest
pathslinkingtasksbetweenthemandthetaskswiththedepots.
Toconstructinitialsolutionsforourtwomethods,atthefirstlevel,eachtaskisassignedtothenearestdepot.Ifoneendofa
requirededgeeisclosesttoonedepot Di,andtheotherendofthesamerequirededge eisclosesttoanotherdepot Dj,e is
randomlyassignedtodepotDiorDj.Inourexample,tasksfrom14areclosesttodepotD1,sotheyareassignedtoadepot,
tasksfrom56areassignedtodepotD2,becauseD2istheirclosestdepot,andfinallytasksfrom711areassignedtodepotD3.
Atthesecondlevel,thetasksineachgrouparedividedintoroutesusinganinsertionalgorithmtominimizethecosts(see
Section4.2).WehavetworoutesassociatedtodepotD1whichare:D112D1andD143D1;wehaveoneroute
associatedtodepotD2whichis:D256D2andwehavetworoutesassociatedtodepotD3whichare:D3789D3
andD31110D3.
Figure1.AnMDCARPexamplesolutionwith11tasks(Q=7).

3MathematicalmodelofMDCARP
Inthissection,wegiveamathematicalmodelforthemixedMDCARP.Ourmodelformulationusestwobinaryvariables:
xijk=1ifthenodejisvisitedafteribythevehiclek(orroutek)andequal0otherwise.lijk=1ifthevehiclekservesthelink(i,j)
from i toj andequal0otherwise.Supposethat wij isthecosttoserveatask (i,j) Ar E1r E2r,where E1rand E2rare
respectivelythesetofallthefirstandtheseconddirectionsofrequirededges(Er=E1rE2randE1E2=E).Then,wetakeErand
Arrespectivelythesetsofallrequiredarcsoredges,calledthetasks.WedenotebyKthesetofallvehicles.Listhenewsetof

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Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
linkswhichcontainsallthearcsinGandLristhenewsetoftasks(newrequiredarcstobeserved).ThenwewilltakeL=E1
E2AandLr=E1rE2rAr.
Theobjectivefunction(1)minimizesthesumoftheservicecostandvisitingcostwithoutservicecost.Constraints(2)assure
thateachlinkedgeisassignedtoasinglerouteandbyuniquedirection.Constraints (3) requirethateachlinkarcmustbe
assignedtoasingleroute.(4)aretheflowconservationconstraints.Constraints(5)ensurethateachvehiclecanbeusedatmost
oncefromasingledepot.Limitsonvehiclecapacityareimposedbyconstraints(6).Constraints(7)ensurethateachrequired
linkcannotbeservedunlessitisvisited.Constraints(8)arethestandardsubtourseliminationconstraints,whereLr(S)={(i,j)
Lr;iSandjS}.Experimentswithacommerciallinearsolver(Cplex)showedthatthislinearprogrammingmodelcanbe
solvedtooptimalityonlyforverysmallsizedinstances.ThesedisappointingresultsarenotsurprisingsincetheMDCARPis
ageneralizationoftheCARP,whichis already NPhard.Duetothecomputational complexityoftheMDCARP,recent
researchhasbeenfocusedondevelopingheuristicalgorithms.Theproposedmathematicalmodelisthefollowingmodel:
Min

k K i , jL w ij l ijk K i , jL c ij x ijkl ijk

r

(1)

k K l ijkl jik=1 i , j E r (2)

k K l ijk =1 i , j Ar (3)
i , j L x ijk= j ,i L x jik k K , iV nV d (4)

s.t.

w V j V x wjk1 k K (5)
i , j L qij lijkQ k K (6)

x ijk l ijk k K , i , j L r (7)

i , j LS x ijkl rsk
k K , r , s L S , S V ;S2

r
n

(8)
x ijk , l ijk {0, 1} k K , wV d , i , j V nV d (9)

4AnhybridAntcolonySystemHACOfortheMDCARP

ThemetaheuristicAntColonyOptimization(ACO)wasfirstproposedbyColornietal.[8],Dorigoetal.[11]tosolvethe
travelingsalesmanproblem(TSP).Itisinspiredbythebehaviorofrealantcolonies.Realantssearchingforfood,arecapableto
findtheshortestpathbetweenafoodsourceandtheirnestbyexchanginginformationviaaquantityofachemicalsubstance,
calledpheromone.Whilewalkingontheroadsbetweenthenestandthefoodsource,thepheromonesaredeposedbyants.As
otherantsobservethepheromonestrailandareattractedtoit,theroadismarkedagainandwillattractevenmoreantstofollow
thetrail.InthefirstapproachHACOtosolvetheMDCARPproblem,weproposeanhybridapproachbasedontheantcolony
optimizationandaninsertionmethod.KansouandYassine[19]aredevelopedthe HACO methodtoresolvetheMDCARP
problembutinthecaseofanindirectedgraph.Inthissection,wegeneralizethemethodtoamixedgraph.Itisbasedontwo
phases: sequencing followedby insertion oftasks.Theinsertionheuristic isthenusedtoinserteverytaskintothecurrent
solutionandtheACOisresponsibleforsequencingthetasks(orforfindtheordertoinsertthetasks). HACOstartswithan
initialsolutionobtainedbyaninsertionheuristic(seeSection4.1.2).ThetwophasesofHACOwillbetackledrepeatedlyuntil
thealgorithmterminationconditionisdone.

4.1Initialization
ThephaseInitializationisdevotedtoconstructaninitialsolutionof HACO.Themethodiscalled BDBP (BestDepotBest
Position).Initializationconsistsofthreefollowedstages:assigning,insertion,regularization.assigningassignstaskstotheir
nearestdepot.Next,foreachdepotindependently,insertionwillsequencethetasks(ontheirbestpositions)assignedtoitintoa
singletrip(agianttrip),startingandendingwiththedepotinquestion.Then,the regularization stagewillfirstly,usinga
procedurecalled split,divideupthegianttripassociatedwitheachdepotintoindividualroutesthatdonotviolatevehicle
capacity.Finallythetotalcostforthesolutionwillthenbycomputedbythesameprocedure(seeSection4.1.3).

23

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

4.1.1Theassigningstage
Inthisstage,eachtaskisassignedtothenearestdepot(onedepot)suchthatwehavendsetsNYd(d=1,,nd),whereeachtaskis
inthesetNYdifitistheclosesttodepotdamongalldepots.Note:NYstandsfornotyetinserted,becausemembersoftheset
NYhavenotyetbeeninsertedintoasequenceforatriporaroute.Eachtaskedge { p , p} isassignedtoonesetNYd,wheredis
d
d
the closest depot to p or p . Then the end of this stage, we have V = d W NY , d W NY = and
d
d
p NY p NY d W .

4.1.2Theinsertionstage
Secondly,followingtheassigningstage,comestheinsertionstage.Thetasksassignedtoagivendepotwillallbesequenced
intoasinglegianttrip,whichstartsandendsatthedepotinquestion,andvisitsallthetasksedgesinonedirectionandall
tasksarcs.Agianttripmeansatripstartsandendsatthesamedepotandnotsatisfiedtheconstraintcapacity.Atthenextstage
(regularizationstage),individualrouteswillbeconstructed,furthermorecalledbyroutesandtheynotviolatedtheconstraint
capacity.Eachindividualrouteofagianttripstartsandendsatthesamedepotallocatedbytheassigningstage.Thentheterm
gianttripisusedtodefineacandidatesolutionbeforeapplyingtheregularizationstage.Eachtaskappearsinexactlyonegiant
tripassociatedwiththedepottowhichthetaskisassigned.Thus,thegiantsolutionismadeupofanumberofgianttrips,one
gianttripforeachdepot.
AgiantsolutionofMDCARPproblemisrepresentedby S= S 1 , ... , S nd .Each S d isasubsolutionofSwhichrepresentsa
giantsolutionassociatedtodepotd.Then, S d containsthenodedepotdatthebeginningandtheending,andbetweenthese,the
tasks sequence already inserted into the solution. For example, in Figure 1 we have nd=3, three subsolutions
S 1 = D 1 1 2 4 3 D 1 , S 2 = D 2 56 D 2 and S 3= D37891 1 1 0 D 3 and 5 routes:
R1= D112D 1 , R2 = D 1 43 D1 , R3= D 2 56D 2 , R4 = D3789 D 3 and

R5= D 31110 D3 .Wedenoteby NY d thesetoftasksthatwillbeinsertedinasolution S d (notyetinsertedina

solution).Ifiindicatesthepositionofagiventask S d ,i inasubsolution S d thenthebestinsertioncost I pd ofataskpina
routedisgivenbytheformula

I pd =Min i {1 , ... ,S 1 }[ D S d ,i1 , pD p , S d ,i w p D S d ,i 1 , S d , i]

Usingformula(1),wecanfindthetaskthatminimizesthecostofintegrationbetweentwoothertasksthatarealreadyingiant
*
0
trip.Foreachdepot d * ,wewillinsertalltasksof NY d intotheinitialsubsolution S d * onebyone,withonedirection
*

fromeach { p , p} NY d .However,tochooseataskpforinsertion,wescaneachtaskin NY d startingbytheclosestoneto

0
*
*
*
*
d andwefindthebestposition i in S d anddirection p thatgives I p d =min {I p d , I p d } . Thenweinsert p atthe
0
position i * intheroute S d andweremove p * and p * from NY d . Toobtain S 0 aninitialMDCARPgiantsolution,we
repeatchoosingandinsertiontasksforeachdVd,until NY d isempty.
*

4.1.3Theregularizationstage
Finally,wedeal withthe regularization stage(realization andevaluation), inwhichthegiant solutionproducedfrom the
previousstage,istransformedintoafeasiblesolutionoftheMDCARPbysplittingallofthegianttrips,associatedwiththe
individualdepots,intovehicleroutesobeyingthevehiclecapacityconstraintusingthesplitprocedure.
Thesplitalgorithm:TheobjectiveofthesplitprocedureofLacommeetal.[20]istosubdivideapermutationoftasks,
calledagianttrip(consistingofallthetasksassignedtoaparticulardepot),intoasetofroutessatisfyingthevehiclecapacity
constraint.splitrequiresagianttripwhichisapermutationof|R|tasks.WewillexplainindetailsinSections5.1,5.2and5.3
becausewewillalsogeneralizethe split onasimpledepottothecaseofmultipledepots(mdsplit).Foreachgianttrip,we

24

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
obtainafeasibleCARPsolutionafterapplyingsplit.TheroleofsplitisalsotocalculatethecostofthefeasiblesolutionsCARP
whichconsistoftheMDCARPsolution.
TheinitialMDCARPsolutionofHACO
0
0
C S isthecostoftheinitialsolution S 0 ,calculatedafterapplyingthesplitproceduretoeachsubsolution S d .Thanksto
split,aCARPsolutionSnotsatisfyingtheconstraintscapacityistransformedintoanoptimalfeasibleCARPsolutionsubjectto
theorderoftasksinS.Atthestart,thecurrentbestsolution S best (atiteration0ofHACOalgorithm)isinitializedas S 0 ,andits
bestcostis C best=C S 0 .ThebasicformofthisheuristicisusedbyLacommeetal.[20]ontheundirectedperiodicarc
routingproblem.

4.2ConstructionofagiantsolutionfortheMDCARPProblem
Weproposeacolonyofmantswhereeachantfrepresentstheorderoftasks,calledsequencef,whichwillbeincludedinthe
associatedsolution S f (thesizeofsequencefismr,thetotalnumberoftasks).Wenoteby ij theamountofpheromonebetween
0

twotasksiandj,andfirstly,wehave ij=1/ C S forall(i,j)VV.Themeasureofdesirability,denotedby ij takesinto

accountthedistancebetweentwotaskscij(theinverseofthetravelcostbetweeniandj).
Tobuildagiantsolution S f oftheMDCARPproblematiteration t,byanant f,weapplytwosteps.Thefirststepisto
f

constructasequencefoftaskstobeinsertedinthesolution S d .Forthis,weusetheACOmethod:thefirsttaskofsequencefis
chosenrandomlybyfanditconstructssequencefbysuccessivelychoosingatask,continuinguntileachtaskofVhasbeenin
sequencef .Atask j isselectedtobein sequencef aftertask i fromaset NY f whichcontainsthetasksthatarenotyetin
sequencef,accordingtotheprobabilitydistribution:

P ijf t =[ ij t ] [ ij] / h NY [ ih t ] [ ih]

0
f

if j NY
otherwise

Thisprobabilitydistributiondependsonthe and parametersthatdeterminetherelativeinfluenceofthepheromonetrails

andthedesirability.Thesecondstepistoinsertthetasksofsequencefinthesolution S f associatedwithantfusingtheorderof
*

sequencef .Thenforatask s,wefindthebestdirection s d andthebestposition i d foreach d Vd andweinsert s d inthe

*

position i d ofthesubsolution S d * where d =argmin d V d {I sd } .

4.2ThegeneralalgorithmofHACO
TheHACOmethodstartswithaninitialsolution S 0 (seeSection4.1).Foreachantfinthecolony,weassociateasolution S f
andacost C f .DuringeachiterationtofthegeneralalgorithmofHACO,eachantfconstructsasequencef,andtherearem
giantsolutions.Withaprobabilitypr,weimproveeach S f usingfourprocedures:(1)changethedirectionofeachtaskbyits
inverse,(2)changethecurrentdepotforeachtaskbyanotherdepot,(3)exchangepositionsoftaskspandqwhichareinthe
f
f
same S d foreachd,andfinally(4)removeataskpfromitspositionandputitelsewhereinthesame S d andforeverydepotd.
Theimprovementphaseswillbedoneonthegiantsolutionswherewedonottakethecapacityofthevehicleintoconsideration.
Thankstosplitprocedurewewillobtainthefeasiblesolutionsandthevaluesofobjectivefunctions.Dependingonthevalueof
theobjectivefunctionofthesolution,thepheromonetrailsareupdated.Inearlyantsystemapproaches,alltheantscontributed
tothetrailupdate(Dorigoetal.[11]).Inourprocedure,weupdatethepheromone(Bullnheimeretal.[7])accordingtothe
followingexpression:
f

pq t 1 pq t f =1 pq
e

(3)
withfpq=1if(p,q)isinsequencefandequaltozerootherwise.feisanumberofelitistants, isthetrailpersistence(0
1),thustheevaporationtermisgivenby(1).TheHACOstopsafterafixednumberofiterationsitermaxisdone.Thepseudo
codeofthegeneralHACOalgorithmispresentedbytheaboveAlgorithm1.

25

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
Algorithm1.ThegeneralHACOalgorithm.

Initialize:pq(0)=1/CbestforallpandqV,Sbest=S0,iter=1
Whileitermaxiterrepeat:
forallf=1,,nfdo
NYfV,takeanemptysolutionSf
choosethefirsttaskptoserverandomlybyf
NY f NY f { p , p}
whileNYfisnonempty,do
chooseataskqusingtheformula(2)
NY f NY f {q , q}
endwhile
inserttasksbytheorderofsequencefinSf(insertionphase,Section4.1.2)
applyimprovementstageonSf
applysplitprocedureoneachSfandcalculateC(Sf)
ifC(Sf)<CbestthenSbestSfandCbestC(Sf)
endforall
applyupdatepheromoneusingformula(3)
EndWhile
EndHACOalgorithmandSbestisthefinalMDCARPsolutionwiththecostCbest.

5AnAntcolonymethodDACOSfortheMDCARP

Here,wedevelopanotherversionoftheantcolonyoptimizationforsolvingtheMDCARP.Firstly,wegeneralizearoutefirst
clustersecondapproach(Ulusoyin[28]ofthesingledepotCARPproblem)fortheMDCARPinmixedgraphsandwewill
adaptedtheefficientalgorithmofLacommeetal.[20]forthesingledepottothecaseofmultidepot.

5.1PrincipleofSplittinggiantMDCARPsolution
Here,theobjectiveistotransformingaRPP(RuralPostmanProblem)solutiontoaMDCARPsolution.LetSaRPPsolution
i
j
(nodepotinS)where t s=v s , v s isthesthservedtaskofS(sfrom1to|R|).Weconstructanauxiliarydirectedgraph,called
H=(N;F),asfollows:NisanewsetofnodesnyzinHwhereeachvertexnyzcorrespondstoeachsequencety,,tzofserved
z

tasksinSsothat s= y qi j Q .Ncontainsalsoanoriginalnodeo1andafinalnodeo2.Fisanewsetofarcsbetweenthe
s

nodes of N such that: F contains an arc between o1 and every node n1z evaluated by the cost
z1

min d W {c di c j d }s=1 c i
1

js 1

, an arc between every n i R and

R1

min d W {c di c j d } s= y c i
y

js 1

o2

evaluated by the cost

andfinally,anarcofcost0fromeverynxytoeveryny+1z.Implicitly,wecanprovidea

feasible solutionofMDCARP,whichrespect the capacity ofvehicle, byfindinga shortest Po1o2 between o1 and o2.In
R

Algorithm 2, we calculate leastcost of feasible solution MDCARP, which is C P o o s =1 wt by generalize the

1

algorithmofLacommeetal.[20].

5.2AnexampleofSplittinggiantMDCARPsolution
Figure2illustratesmdsplitforaMDCARPproblemwiththecapacityQ=7andagianttourSof6edgestasks(bolddashes).
Eachtaskisrepresentedbyx(y),wherexisthenumberofthetaskandyistheirdemand.Thevaluesbetweenparenthesesbelow
the tasks are their service associated costs.The dotted dashes between the bold dashes indicate the optimal intermediary
chemicals.Thebestpossiblesstartsreturnsofdepotsarerepresentedindotteddashes.Thevaluesnexttothedashesarethe
costsoftasksandchemicals.InFigure2,wehave:W={D1,D2,D3},nd =3,mr =6=|R|,S=(t1 ,t2 ,...,ts ,,t6=t|R|)andthen1(2)
representsthefirsttaskservedinSwithademandequalto2andtheservedcostequalto7( w t1=7 ).

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
Thedepotthatminimizethecosttogofromit,toservethetaskt1=1andtoreturntothesamedepot,isthedepotD2.More
precisely,therequiredcosttogofromD2,toservethetasknumber1inSandtoreturntothesamedepotis:7+7+12=26.
ThenD21D2representsatripsatisfiedallconstraintsoftheMDCARPproblem.RespectingtheorderofservedtasksinS,
mdsplitconstructstheauxiliarygraphHwithmr+1nodesindexedfrom0tomr=6(seeFigure4forthisexample).
Eachsubsequenceoftasks(tr,,ts)feasibleforonefeasibletrip(theconstraintcapacityissatisfiedandthevehicleassociated
tothistripstartsandendsatthesamedepot)givesanarc(r1,s)inthegraphH.Thisarc(r1,s)isevaluatedbythecostofthe
associatedfeasibletrip,forexamplethefeasibletripD21D2correspondstothearc(0,1)inthegraphHandithasthecost
19+7=26.InFigure4,wehavenexteacharcthecouplex(y)wherexrepresentsthecost(withoutaddingtheservedcostsofthe
tasksservedbythistrip)oftheassociatedtripandyrepresentsthedepotassignedtothistrip.Forexample,nextthearc(0,2)
we have 100(3) where 100 is the cost of the trip D3 1 2 D3 without adding the sum of service costs:
w t1w t2=711=26 .Thecompletecostofthistripis100+26=126andthevalue3betweenparenthesesrepresentsthe
indexofdepot(thedepotD3intheexample)whichminimizesthecosttogofromadepot,servesthetask1andthetask3and
finallytoreturntothesamedepot(whichisD3).Moregenerally,wewillconstructamatrixXofsize(2mr+1;2mr+1),wheremris
thenumberoftasksthatmustbeservedandeachXpqcontainsthevalueofthedepotsuchthat:

X pq=argmin d V {D d , pD q , d }
d

wherepandqaretwotasksinV.Inconclusion,theFigure2representsagiantMDCARPsolution,weconstructanauxiliary
graphHlikeinFigure4andfinallyweobtainthefeasibleMDCARPsolutionSwhichisoptimalrespectingthetasksorderin
thegiantsolutionlikeinFigure3.TheobtainedMDCARPsolutionforourexamplecontainsthreefeasibletrips,eachtrip
startsandendsatthesamedepot,thecapacityconstraintsarerespected.Thefirsttripis:D2123D2whichthecomplete
cost1=7+(7)+38+(11)+44+(11)+14=132,itisassociatedtoarc(0,3)inH.Thesecondtripis:D14D1withthecomplete
cost2=15+(9)+21=45, it is associated to arc (3, 4) in H. The third trip is: D3 5 6 D3 with the complete
cost3=17+(12)+21+(8)+24=82,itisassociatedtoarc(4,6)inH.Alltripsrespectthecapacityconstraintandformtheoptimal
feasibleMDCARPsolutionwiththetotalcost=cost1+cost2+cost3=259.Eachtripofthesethreetripscorrespondstoanarcin
theshortestpathinH,whichcontainsthreearcs.

Figure3.obtainedfeasibletrips(MDCARPfeasiblesolution).

Figure2.giantsolutionSwith6tasksedges.

Figure4.auxiliarygraphandoptimalpath.

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

5.3Anefficientalgorithmofmdsplit
We can calculate C P o1 o2 =C P 0R in O(|R|2) without generate explicitly H. In our example, the path

P 0 6 o1 = 0 , o 2 =6 =R togofrom0tonode6isthebest(withminimizedcost)betweenallpossiblepathsinH.Foreach
tasktrinagivengiantsolutionS,wetakeZ[r]thecostoftheoptimalpathfromo1totrandP[r]itspredecessortask.Eachtrip
tr,...,ts=nrscorrespondstoanarc(r1,s)inH.Ifthereisanamelioration,weupdatethelabelofsinsteadofstoringthearc.For
eachr,weexamineeachpossibletripnrs(sr)andwecalculateitscostandloaduntilloadexceedsQorts reachedtheendof
S.Thealgorithmisflexibletosupportvariousadditionalconstraintslikeamaximumcostdonottobeextendedbyeachtrip.
WecanusealsothesameAlgorithm2ifthevehiclesarenotidenticalandhaveamaximalnumber.Whilethenumberoftrips
cannotexceedthenumberofvehicles(called,nv),theproceduremdsplitrunsinO(mrnv)spaceandthecomplexityisO(mr2nv).
Algorithm2.ThegeneralmdsplitalgorithmfortheMDCARPproblem.

Initialize:P[0]=0,Z[0]=0,Z[r]=1forallr=1,,mr
Forallr=1,,mrdo
s=r,load=0
whilesmrandloadQrepeat:
load=load+ q ts
ifr=sthen
cost = D X tr tr , t r wt r D t r , X t r tr
else
cost=cost D X t r t s1 ,t r D t s1 , X tr ts 1 D X t r t s , t r
D t s , X tr t s D t s1 , t s w ts
endif
ifloadQthen
if(Z[r1]+cost<Z[s])then
Z[s]=Z[r1]+cost
P[s]=r1
endif
s=s+1
endif
endwhile
Z[mr]isthefinalcostoftheobtainedMDCARPsolution.

5.4ThegeneralalgorithmDACOSfortheMDCARPproblem
AteachiterationofDACOS,eachantdesignsthegiantsolutionforallvehiclesatthesametime.Eachantfstartsrandomlyits
f

solutionfromadifferenttasktandtheremainderoftasksischosenaccordingtotransitionrule(2)where NY =R {t , t } at
thebegin.Afterthat,eachgiantsolutioncalculatedissplittedintoafeasiblesolutiontotheMDCARPbytheAlgorithm2and
allcostsarecalculatedaftertheprocessimprovement.Onlyfeelitistantsthatobtainedthebestsolutionsaretakenintoaccount
fortheupdatingby(3).DACOSprocedurestopswhenthereisnotimprovementonthesolutionafterseveraliterationsorwhen
maxiternumberofiterationsisreached.ThepseudocodeofthegeneralDACOSalgorithmispresentedbytheaboveAlgorithm3.

6Numericalresults
ThetwomethodswerecodedinClanguageandtestedontwosetsofbenchmarkinstancesadaptedfortheMDCARPproblem.
ThebasicCARPinstances[4]containsonlyedgesandthecostofpassageisequaltothecostofserviceforeachtask.Thislack
ofmixedinstancesMDCARPproblempushesustoadapttheCARPinstancestotheMDCARPproblembyaddingdepositsin
thenextsection.

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

Algorithm3.ThegeneralDACOSalgorithm.

Initialize:pq(0)=1/CbestforallpandqV,fbest=S0,iter=1
Whileitermaxiterrepeat:
forallf=1,,nfdo
f

NY R
choosethefirsttaskptoserverandomlybyf
f

NY NY { p , p}
whileNYfisnonempty,do
chooseataskqusingtheformula(2)toservebyf
f

NY NY {q , q}
endwhile
applyimprovementstageonf
applymdsplitoneachfandcalculateC(f)
ifC(f)<CbestthenfbestfandCbestC(f)
endforall
applyupdatepheromoneusingformula(3)
EndWhile
EndDACOSalgorithmandfbestisthefinalMDCARPsolutionwiththecostCbest.

6.1GenerationofMDCARPinstances
ThefirstsetwillbecalledmdGoldenset.Itcontainsthe23CARPinstancesofDeArmon(thesizeofthesesinstancestends
from11to55requirededges).Weaddtwodepots,atthefirstnode1andatthefinalnode V foreachmdGoldeninstance.
ThesecondsetadaptedtotheMDCARPproblemiscalledmdBenaventset.Itcontainsthe28CARPinstancesofBenavent
(thesizeofthesesinstancestendsfrom34to97requirededges).ThesesinstancescanbedownloadedfromtheInternet[4].We
addthreedepots,atthebeginnode1andatthetwovertex V/ 2 and 2 V/ 2 foreachmdBenaventinstance.
Thenotationsusedintheallfollowingtablesofresultsare: Instance,whichmeansaninstance; mdgdbiistheithmdGolden
instancefor i=1,, 23; mdbik isthe(ith; k)mdBenaventinstancefor k = a, b, c or d and i=1,, 10; BDBP meansthe
algorithmusedintheinitializationforthetwomethodsHACOandDACOS(seeSection4.1);SEC1andSEC2arerespectively
thecomputationaltimeinsecondsofthetwomethodsHACOandDACOS.

6.2ParametersusedforthetwoalgorithmsonthemodifiedMDCARPinstances
TheparametersoftheHACOfortheMDCARPproblemonthemdGoldeninstancesare:maxiter=150,nf=10,fe=5,=1,=1,
=0.9andpr=0.5.OnthemdBenaventinstances,theyare:maxiter=170,nf=15,fe=7,==1,=0.9andpr=0.4.
TheparametersoftheDACOSfortheMDCARPonthetwosetsare:maxiter=200,nf=15,fe=10,=1,=1,=0.8andpr=0.5.

6.3ExperimentalresultsonthemdGoldenandmdBenaventinstances
Detailedresultsaregiveninthetwotables,Table1andTable3,respectivelyforall mdgdbandmdbenavent instances(the
fabricatedMDCARPinstanceswithmultipledepots).Thecolumnsinthesetablesaregivenasfollows: Instance isthefile
name, BDBP istheinitialheuristicusedinthe initialization (or BDBP)ofthetwomethods(Section4.1),andfinallythe
columns SEC1 and SEC2 represent respectivelythecomputationaltimeinsecondsofthetwomethods HACO and DACOS.
ColumnHACOconcernsthecostsprovidedbythehybridantcolonyalgorithmandthecolumnofDACOSmethoddisplaysthe
solution values found during our experiments by the directed ant colony optimization with splitting method (mdsplit
procedure).

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
ConcerningtheTable1,theDACOSgeneratesonlytwobetterfinalsolutionsthanHACO,moreprecisely,ininstances(mdgdb2
and mdgdb5).The HACOmethodfoundbettersolutionsthan DACOSinsixinstances: mdgdb3,mdgdb4,mdgdb8,mdgdb12,
mdgdb20andmdgdb23.ThentheHACOmethodisbetterthanDACOSmethodontheGoldeninstanceswithmultipledepots.In
alltheremainderofinstances,thetwomethodsobtainthesamevalues.Wenotealsothattheexecutiontimeisverysmallfor
bothourmethodsonthetwofilesofinstances:GoldenandBenavent(Tables1and3).ConcerningtheTable3,the HACO
generatesfourbetterfinalsolutionsthanDACOS.
Table1.ResultsonGoldeninstanceswith(multipledepots). Table2.ResultsonGoldeninstanceswithsimpledepot.
BDBP

HACO

SEC1

DACOS

SEC2

Best

BDBP

HACO

SEC1

DACOS

SEC2

mdgdb1

Instance

351

300

<1

300

<1

316

330

316

1,2

316

<1

mdgdb2

392

331

<1

329

1,2

339

353

339

<1

339

<1

mdgdb3

354

267

<1

273

<1

275

297

275

<1

275

<1

mdgdb4

352

266

<1

269

<1

287

320

287

<1

287

<1

mdgdb5

460

369

<1

364

1,3

377

407

377

<1

377

<1

mdgdb6

373

358

<1

358

<1

289

318

289

<1

289

<1

mdgdb7

391

325

<1

325

<1

325

330

325

<1

325

<1

mdgdb8

392

351

1,5

359

1,8

348

388

360

361

2,1

mdgdb9

360

314

1,7

314

306

358

333

322

3,4

mdgdb10

319

275

<1

275

<1

275

283

275

<1

275

<1

mdgdb11

482

407

<1

407

1,7

395

413

405

395

mdgdb12

555

450

<1

454

<1

458

537

468

<1

468

<1

mdgdb13

582

540

<1

540

536

552

544

544

2,1

mdgdb14

113

98

<1

98

<1

100

104

100

<1

100

<1

mdgdb15

68

56

<1

56

<1

58

58

58

<1

58

<1

mdgdb16

137

127

<1

127

<1

127

132

127

<1

127

<1

mdgdb17

95

91

<1

91

<1

91

93

91

<1

91

<1

mdgdb18

172

160

<1

160

1,5

164

172

164

<1

164

<1

mdgdb19

69

55

<1

55

<1

55

63

55

<1

55

<1

mdgdb20

131

122

<1

123

<1

121

125

121

<1

121

<1

mdgdb21

172

158

<1

158

<1

156

162

156

<1

156

<1

mdgdb22

208

202

1,3

202

200

207

202

1,3

202

1,8

mdgdb23 253

235

1,6

236

1,5

233

239

237

3,3

235

4,5

TheresultsdemonstratetheefficiencyandtherobustnessofourapproachesontheMDCARPinstances:
1.OurmethodsprovideasignificantimprovementonsolutionsobtainedbyaninsertionheuristicBDBPwhichiswidelyusedin
literature(Renaudetal.[26],Cordeauetal.[9],Crevieretal.[10],Hoetal.,[18])byitsgeneralform.
2.WeappliedbothmethodsontheCARPinstanceswherend=1,i.e.,wehaveasingledepotineachinstance,andtheresults
wereverysimilartothoseobtainedbyothermethodsdevelopedintheliteratureofCARPproblem(Hertzetal.[17],Mazzeo
andLoiseau[24],Lacommeetal.[20],Whlk[30],BrandoandEglese[6]).
Ifwehaveonlyonedepotforeachinstance,theMDCARPproblemwillbechangedinto1CARP.Tables2and4presentthe
computationalresultsforourtwoalgorithmsandmakesacomparisonwiththebestvalues(columnBest)obtainedbythestate
oftheartmethodsintheliteratureforthe1CARPproblemrespectivelyontheGoldenandBenaventinstances.

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.
FromTable2,wecandrawthefollowingconclusions:DACOSobtainsthreebetterresultsthanHACOasanexample,1gdb9,
1gdb11and1gdb23.HACOisbetterthanDACOSat1gdb8only.Thetwomethodsproviderapidsolutions.ComparingHACO
andDACOStosetofbestmethodsof1CARPliterature,weobtainalmostsamevalues(optimalresults)exceptatfollowing
instances:1gdb8,1gdb13,1gdb22and1gdb23.Evenwedidnotobtainsameoptimalvalues,weapproachesthemasatinstances
1gdb22and1gdb23.Asaresult,theperformanceofHACOandDACOSissignificantlybetterthanthefamousHertzalgorithm
(carpet)whichisbasedonthetabumethod.
From Table 4, we conclude that HACO algorithm is competitive with the best methods applied to 1CARP problem but
DACOS becomes lessaccurateifthesizeofinstancesaugmentedasweappliedtoBenaventinstances whichholdslarger
instancesthanGolden(thesizeofinstancepresentsthenumberofnodesandarcs).
Table3.ResultsonBenaventinstanceswithmultipledepot. Table4.ResultsonBenaventinstanceswithsimpledepot.
Instance

BDBP

HACO

SEC1

DACOS

SEC2

Best

BDBP

HACO

SEC1

DACOS

SEC2

mdb1a

449

415

1,3

415

1,2

173

173

173

1,7

173

1,6

mdb2a

471

368

0,8

368

1,1

227

250

227

1,4

227

1,4

mdb3a

204

167

167

1,5

81

85

81

1,9

81

mdb4a

843

710

3,1

748

3,2

400

436

400

37,6

404

25,2

mdb5a

801

702

737

2,5

423

453

423

40,2

423

38,3

mdb6a

632

530

544

2,4

223

243

223

3,6

223

3,2

mdb7a

754

634

3,5

666

3,1

279

296

279

1,8

279

<1

mdb8a

719

634

3,3

663

2,9

386

432

386

7,5

392

8,5

mdb9a

887

772

7,5

824

6,3

323

345

332

30,2

332

29,9

mdb10a

918

821

8,7

883

7,4

428

452

430

21,3

428

23,5

mdb1b

449

415

1,2

421

1,5

173

197

173

2,3

173

3,7

mdb2b

471

368

380

1,7

259

277

259

3,4

259

3,4

mdb3b

204

167

167

87

99

87

2,7

87

2,1

mdb4b

843

717

3,5

764

3,2

412

470

412

10,7

416

11

mdb5b

801

697

3,2

749

446

486

452

6,9

453

6,8

mdb6b

632

530

2,2

547

2,7

233

252

233

4,1

233

5,3

mdb7b

754

634

3,7

670

3,6

283

297

283

2,7

283

mdb8b

719

642

3,1

671

3,3

395

493

397

5,7

397

6,5

mdb9b

887

773

859

6,2

326

353

326

4,6

326

4,6

mdb10b

918

826

7,6

896

6,5

436

460

436

7,3

436

mdb1c

449

415

1,7

435

1,5

245

280

245

2,1

245

3,8

mdb2c

505

410

422

1,2

473

515

473

2,8

473

1,7

mdb3c

204

167

1,4

174

1,5

138

153

138

5,6

142

5,4

mdb4c

843

710

710

3,3

428

485

446

10,4

450

10,1

mdb5c

801

716

756

2,9

474

504

483

7,6

500

7,9

mdb6c

684

595

1,8

612

2,5

317

365

317

223

5,6

mdb7c

778

640

2,9

666

3,5

334

381

340

6,3

342

7,6

mdb8c

739

695

2,5

722

3,2

527

596

534

10,5

568

13,7

mdb9c

887

776

825

6,6

332

368

332

30,4

332

28,6

mdb10c

918

836

7,3

903

7,2

446

481

446

26

450

22,7

mdb4d

857

754

3,1

759

3,4

541

608

541

10,6

556

9,3

mdb5d

841

749

2,4

795

3,3

581

663

591

5,2

617

7,5

mdb9d

911

796

846

6,7

391

446

401

27,4

429

26

mdb10d

964

887

6,5

931

7,2

530

589

530

31,5

540

32,8

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colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

6.3Experimentalresultsofourapproachesforsolvinginstanceswithknownoptima
Inthissection,weexaminetheeffectivenessofourmethodsinsolvinginstanceswithknownoptima.IntheliteratureofMD
CARPproblemwithamixedgraph,theonlyworkappliedoninstanceswithoptimalvaluesisgivenin[31]byXingetal.The
authorsproposedthreedifferentversionsofevolutionaryalgorithmandthebestoneisHHAE3.Theyprovethesuperiorityof
HHAE3 withothersversionsthatareevaluatedon107instanceswithupto140nodesand380arcs.Forfurtherevaluation
HHAE3withoptimality,20MDCARPinstanceswithupto100nodesand360arcswithknownoptimaweredesignedbythe
sameauthorsXingetal.andtheycanbedownloadedfromhttp://xinglining.googlepages.com/home.The20newinstancesare
shownincolumnNameofTable5.Now,wechangetheparametersbecausethesizeoftheinstancesisbigger,andthenew
parametersusedtoobtaintheresultsbythetwomethodsHACOandDACOSinTable5andTable6arethefollowing:maxiter=
320,nf=45,fe=20,=1,=1,=0.91andpr=0.4.
HACOetDACOSareappliedontheCASEinstancesandtheexperimentalresultsaresummarizedinTable5.Thesummaryof
abbreviationsusedisasfollows:Name:nameofexample,Np:numberofnodes,NA:numberofrequiredarcs(eachrequirededge
givestworequiredarcs),Lp:lowerbound,F*:knownoptimalresult.ThecomputationaltimeinsecondcorrespondstoHHAE3 ,
HACOandDACOSaregivenrespectivelyincolumnsTA(S),TH(S)andTD(S).
Table5.ResultsofHHAE3,HACOandDACOSonCASEinstances(over50trials)andthecomputationaltimes.
Name

NV

NA

Lp

F*

HHAE3

HACO

DACOS

TA(S)

TH(S)

TD(S)

CASEC101

40

132

164

180

184

180

180

275.00

182.69

163.75

CASEC102

40

132

218

262

262

262

262

178.84

180.26

172.11

CASEC103

40

132

174

210

226

222

230

268.45

198.01

187.43

CASEC104

40

132

218

262

266

262

262

182.48

179.19

162.84

CASEC201

49

168

224

240

260

248

254

219.34

196.00

192.65

CASEC202

49

168

296

324

342

332

332

153.57

213.76

188.20

CASEC203

49

168

224

272

280

272

284

173.17

168.45

156.19

CASEC204

49

168

296

324

340

326

340

154.81

134.00

115.96

CASEC301

70

246

328

360

398

374

376

347.01

311.15

315.48

CASEC302

70

246

424

492

520

492

518

254.19

253.61

248.87

CASEC303

70

246

348

412

440

440

450

347.01

333.62

317.23

CASEC304

70

246

424

492

520

498

516

254.90

246.05

245.29

CASEC401

91

324

432

480

524

492

514

596.56

419.41

422.66

CASEC402

91

324

556

668

702

676

702

416.59

398.00

387.24

CASEC403

91

324

464

532

568

532

564

621.10

597.65

618.13

CASEC404

91

324

556

668

700

678

700

418.05

402.53

412.09

CASEC501

100

360

484

540

562

552

576

882.18

692.71

670.01

CASEC502

100

360

630

754

786

764

782

616.84

578.55

562.43

CASEC503

100

360

514

550

582

556

596

845.31

805.27

796.08

CASEC504

100

360

630

754

788

762

790

616.14

577.18

592.34

Table6.ComputationalerrorsbetweenHHAE3,HACOandDACOSandthelowerboundsandknowoptimalresults.
FA

FH E
FD

101

102

103

104

201

202

203

204

301

302

303

304

401

402

403

404

501

502

503

504

12.2

20.2 29.9 22.0

16.1

15.5

25.0

14.9

21.3 22.6

26.4

22.6

21.3

26.3

22.4

25.9

16.1

24.8

13.2

25.1

21.2

9.8

20.2 27.6 20.2

10.7

12.3

21.4

10.1

14.0 16.0

26.4

17.5

13.9

21.6

14.7

22.0

14.0

21.3

8.2

21.0

17.1

9.8

20.2 32.2 20.2

13.4

12.2

26.9

14.9

14.6 22.2

29.3

21.7

20.0

26.3

21.6

25.9

19.0

24.1

16.0

25.4

20.8

FA *

2.2

0.0

7.6

1.5

8.3

5.6

2.9

4.9

10.6 5.7

6.8

5.7

9.2

5.1

6.8

4.8

4.1

4.2

5.8

4.5

5.3

FH

0.0

0.0

5.7

0.0

3.3

2.5

0.0

0.6

3.9

0.0

6.8

1.2

2.5

1.2

0.0

1.5

2.2

1.3

1.1

1.2

1.8

FD *

0.0

0.0

9.5

0.0

5.8

2.5

4.4

4.9

4.4

5.2

9.2

4.9

7.1

5.1

6.0

4.8

6.7

3.7

8.4

4.8

4.9

32

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

AccordingtothefinalresultslistedinTable5,theperformanceofourmethodsHACOandDACOSissignificantlybetterthan
thatofHHEA3.Infact,HACOgivesbestresultsatallinstancesexpectCASEC102andCASEC303.DACOSperformsgood
resultsincomparisonto HHAE3,butlesscompetitivewith HACO. DACOS becomeslessaccurateasthesizeincreases. For
example, DACOS (sameas HACO)findsthreeoptimalsolutionsfrom4instances (CASEC101 to CASEC104)wherethe
numberofnodesis40andthatofarcsis132.Incontrary,itgivesweaksolutionsatCASEC503andCASEC504instances
wherenumberofnodesis100andthatofarcsis360.Accordingtoouropinion,thisoccursbecausewecalculategiantsolutions
beforesplittingthemoptimallyutilizingmdsplitprocedure.
HACO providessixoptimalsolutionswhile DACOS providesthreeand HAAE3 foundsonlyoneoptimalsolutionwhichare
foundedbyourmethods(fortheinstanceCASEC102).Concerningtheexecutiontime,wenotethatourmethodsareveryquick
comparedtoHAAE3becausegreatnumberofcrossoverareusedinHHAE3algorithm.
Formoredetailsabouttheexperimentalresults,wecalculatedthefollowingerrors:FA*(resp.FAE),FH*(resp.FHE)andFD*(resp.
FDE)respectivelybetweenFAandF*(resp.FA andLp),betweenFHandF*(resp.FH andLp)andbetweenFDandF*(resp.FDand
Lp).AsdisplayedinTable6,thereexistsalargegapbetweenFH*(resp.FHE)andFA*(resp.FAE).InTable6,Mrepresentsthe
averageofthecorrespondingerroronallinstances,frugallywecanremarkthatwehaveM(FH*)<M(FD*)<M(FA*)andM(FHE)
<M(FDE)<M(FAE).

7Conclusions
Inthispaper,wehavestudiedaveryimportantvariantinarcrouting,themultipledepotcapacitatedarcroutingproblem,called
MDCARP.ItisNPhardproblemandarisesnaturallyinemergency,streetsweepingandpolicepatrolsetc.Toourknowledge,
nomathematicalmodelforthemixedMDCARPhasbeenpresentedbefore.Inthiswork,wegiveafeasiblemodelforthe
problembaseddirectlyonarcroutingproblem.DuetothecomplexityoftheMDCARPproblem,twonewmethodsbasedon
theantcolonyoptimization,called HACO and DACOS,areapromisingwaytofindgoodsolutionsformediumandlarge
problems.Aproblemspecificheuristic,calledBDBP,hasbeenproposedtoobtainagoodfeasiblesolutiontousedinHACO
andDACOS.
Ourapproachesaremotivatedbytworeasons:1)itisthefirsttimewhenweusetheseapproachesforresolvetheMDCARP
problem,2)itsgoodobtainedresultsbyapplyingittotheBinPackingproblem,totheindirectedmultipledepotofarcrouting
andtotheperiodicCARP.Computationaltestson23MDCARPGoldeninstancesand34MDCARPBenaventinstances
adaptedfromtheliteraturewereperformedinordertoprovetheperformanceofourdevelopedalgorithms.Theobtainedresults
ontheseinstancesindicatethatthetwomethodsareverycompetitiveandtheyimproveconsiderablyaninitialheuristic.They
areverycloserwhenapplicationisdoneonmultipledepotsinstancesandthenumericalsimulationsshowtheefficiencyofthese
twomethodsandthesuperiorityofthealgorithmHACO,morepreciselyifthesizeoftheproblemwillbebigger.
Concerninginstancesofasimpledepot(the1CARPinstances),ourmethodswereproducedverygoodresultscomparedtothe
stateoftheartmethodsintheliteratureforthe1CARPproblemrespectivelyontheGoldenandBenaventinstances.

Averyimportantresultinthisarticleisthatthesplittingmethodsaregeneralizedtomultipledepotarcroutingproblem.We
havedevelopedacleverproceduretoevaluategiantsolutionsandtoreturnthemintooptimalfeasibleMDCARPsolutions
respecting order of tasks in giant solutions. The splitting algorithms are combined with the ant colony optimization into
DACOS method. They seem flexible to support various additional constraints and the resolution remains in polynomial
complexity.
Afterapplyingtheproposedmethodson20instancesofMDCARPproblemwithknownoptima, HACO providesfivenew
optimalsolutionswhileDACOSprovidestwosoHACOandDACOSaresignificantlybetterthanliteraturemethods.

33

Ali Kansou and Adnan Yassine / Splitting algorithms for the multiple depot arc routing problem: application by ant
colony optimization. IJCOPI Vol. 3, No. 3, Sep-Dec 2012, pp. 20-34. ISSN: 2007-1558.

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