Aias-Efraim Oikonomakis, "A Hybrid bat algorithm for solving vehicle routing problems", Diploma Work, School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece, 2024
https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.99118
The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) belongs to the industrial supply chain sector. The primary objective of the problems in this category is to generate the optimal route plan of a fleet of vehicles starting from a central depot, aiming to serve a group of customers with specific demand, minimizing the total route cost. Vehicle routing problems vary with respect to several factors and constraints (eg demand, time windows and vehicle capacity). This thesis will demonstrate the use of the bat algorithm to solve some basic routing problems. The Bat Algorithm (BA) is a meta-heuristic algorithm and it was found by Xin-She Yang in 2010. The name of this algorithm indicates that it is inspired by nature, specifically by the echolocation ability of a bat swarm. Each bat orients itself and finds its prey by emitting sound waves at a frequency above human hearing that reflect off objects and potential prey. The original Bat Algorithm was created to solve continuous variable problems, but this thesis will present a hybrid variant for discrete variables. The algorithm will be implemented using Python 3.10, afterwards the results of each problem will be analyzed and evaluated.