Solution for the Travelling Salesman Problem with a Microcontroller-based Instantaneous System

Abstract

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) is one of the most frequently researched combinational optimization problems. Despite its trivial definition, the problem is very difficult to solve. Therefore, it is categorized as an NP-hard problem in research literature. It is used for the solution of many real-life problems like route planning, transportation and logistics applications. In this study, a microcontroller-based system was proposed for the solution of the TSP. In the proposed system, location information was imported instantaneously via a GPS module. The Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm was coded inside the microcontroller for the solution of the TSP. Various tests were performed on two different datasets using different parameter values. Tests showed that the only difference between the results for the microcontroller-based and the computer-based systems were the run-times. Therefore, it was concluded that population-based algorithms like ACO could easily be used in current microcontrollers for various purposes in different areas.

Keywords

• Ant Colony Optimization,GPS Module; Microcontroller; Travelling Salesman Problem

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