Wireless sensor network route optimization based on improved ant colony-genetic algorithm

Abstract

The objective of this paper is focuses on route optimization, for a given wireless sensor network. We detail the significance of route optimization problem and the corresponding mathematical model. After analyzing the complex multi-objective optimization problem, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm was introduced to search the best route. Inspired by Genetic Algorithm (GA), we embed two operations into ACO to refine it. First, every ant after achieving sink will be regarded as an individual such as that in GA. The crossover operation will be applied and then, the generated new ants will replace the weaker parents. Second, we designed a mutation operation for ants selecting next nodes to visit. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed combination algorithm has significant enhancements than both GA and ACO. The lifetime of WSN can be extended and the coverage speed can be accelerated.