Multiple ant-colony optimization for network routing

An ANT is a mobile agent that is capable of solving various kinds of routing and congestion problems in computer networking by continuously modifying routing tables in respond to congestion. In a distributed problem solving paradigm, a society of ANTs (each contributing some information) collaborate to solve a larger problem. In recent years, Ant-based algorithms were used to solve classical routing problems such as: Traveling Salesman Problem, Vehicle Routing Problem, Quadratic Assignment Problem, connection-oriented /connectionless routing, sequential ordering, graph coloring and shortest common supersequence. This paper introduces the general idea of Ant-based algorithms with a focus on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), and their features, strengths, weaknesses and applications in network routing. The contribution of this paper is the proposal of a multiple ant-colony optimization (MACO) approach for network routing.