Hybrid Crow Search-Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem

Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is a NP-Hard problem in which the optimal set of paths taken by the vehicles is determined under the capacity constraint. Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a metaheuristic method incorporating the ant's ability to find the shortest path from source to destination using the concept of pheromone trails. It has been used to solve CVRP. However, it exhibits stagnation property, due to which, the exploration probability of new route is reduced. Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) is a recently developed metaheuristic method inspired from crow's food hunting behavior. This paper provides a hybrid relay algorithm which involves ACO and CSA to solve CVRP. The hybridization is done to get a consistent solution with optimal execution time. The experimentation with Augerat instances shows betterment in the optimal solution at the earliest time.