Algorithm selection for the graph coloring problem

Abstract

We present an automated algorithm selection method based on machine learning for the graph coloring problem (GCP). For this purpose, we identify 78 features for this problem and evaluate the performance of six state-of-the-art (meta) heuristics for the GCP. We use the obtained data to train several classification algorithms that are applied to predict on a new instance the algorithm with the highest expected performance. To achieve better performance for the machine learning algorithms, we investigate the impact of parameters, and evaluate different data discretization and feature selection methods. Finally, we evaluate our approach, which exploits the existing GCP techniques and the automated algorithm selection, and compare it with existing heuristic algorithms. Experimental results show that the GCP solver based on machine learning outperforms previous methods on benchmark instances. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.