A nature inspired intelligent water drop algorithm and its application for solving the set covering problem

Abstract

The Set Covering Problem is a classic combinatorial problem which is looking for solutions to cover needs on a geographic area. In this paper, we applied new ideas to solve The Set Covering Problem. Intelligent Water Drop is a nature inspired algorithm based on water drops behavior on natural river systems and the events that change the nature of water drop and the river environment. It observes that a river can find an optimum path to its goal. The results of experiments seems to be promising with certain configurations for the instances given by OR-Library J.E. Beasley. In addition an innovation was introduced in the algorithm in order to obtain results. Also a heuristic undesirability chosen is presented in this paper.