Modelling the Social Interactions in Ant Colony Optimization

Abstract

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a swarm-based algorithm inspired by the foraging behavior of ants. Despite its success, the efficiency of ACO has depended on the appropriate choice of parameters, requiring deep knowledge of the algorithm. A true understanding of ACO is linked to the (social) interactions between the agents given that it is through the interactions that the ants are able to explore-exploit the search space. We propose to study the social interactions that take place as artificial agents explore the search space and communicate using stigmergy. We argue that this study bring insights to the way ACO works. The interaction network that we model out of the social interactions reveals nuances of the algorithm that are otherwise hard to notice. Examples include the ability to see whether certain agents are more influential than others, the structure of communication, to name a few. We argue that our interaction-network approach may lead to a unified way of seeing swarm systems and in the case of ACO, remove part of the reliance on experts for parameter choice.