An effective hybrid search algorithm for the multiple traveling repairman problem with profits

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hybrid memetic algorithm for the multiple traveling repairman problem with profits, effectively improving solution quality and computational efficiency on benchmark instances.

Contribution

It presents a novel hybrid search algorithm combining arc-based crossover and fast evaluation techniques for this complex optimization problem.

Findings

Achieved new best results on 137 instances

Matched best results on 330 instances

Demonstrated algorithm's competitiveness and effectiveness

Abstract

As an extension of the traveling repairman problem with profits, the multiple traveling repairman problem with profits consists of multiple repairmen who visit a subset of all customers to maximize the revenues collected through the visited customers. To solve this challenging problem, an effective hybrid search algorithm based on the memetic algorithm framework is proposed. It integrates two distinguished features: a dedicated arc-based crossover to generate high-quality offspring solutions and a fast evaluation technique to reduce the complexity of exploring the classical neighborhoods. We show the competitiveness of the algorithm on 470 benchmark instances compared to the leading reference algorithms and report new best records for 137 instances as well as equal best results for other 330 instances. We investigate the importance of the key search components for the algorithm.