Firefly Algorithm Solving Multiple Traveling Salesman Problem

The multiple traveling salesman problem (mTSP) is a generalization of the well-known traveling salesman problem (TSP), where more than one salesman is allowed to be used in the solution. Firstly, a kind of equal-task multiple traveling salesman problem (ET-mTSP) was proposed and its corresponding mathematical model was constructed; secondly, firefly algorithm was introduced to solve this problem, and a series of discrete operations were conducted to adapt to it. Standard firefly algorithm was improved to be discrete firefly algorithm, also the general methods and steps were presented to solve the ET-mTSP. And the algorithm had a good performance for solving ET-mTSP. The performance of FA is significantly better than GA for solving such ET-mTSP.