Ant colony optimization algorithms - Wikipedia

In computer science and operations research, the ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) is a probabilistic technique for solving computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths through graphs. Artificial Ants stand for multi-agent methods inspired by the behavior of real ants. The pheromone-based communication of biological ants is often the predominant paradigm used.[2] Combinations of Artificial Ants and local search algorithms have become a method of choice for numerous optimization tasks involving some sort of graph, e.g., vehicle routing and internet routing. The burgeoning activity in this field has led to conferences dedicated solely to Artificial Ants, and to numerous commercial applications by specialized companies such as AntOptima. As an example, Ant colony optimization[3] is a class of optimization algorithms modeled on the actions of an ant colony. Real ants lay down pheromones directing each other to resources while exploring their environment. The simulated'ants' similarly record their positions and the quality of their solutions, so that in later simulation iterations more ants locate better solutions.[4]