Application of Fuzzy Sets for the Improvement of Routing Optimization Heuristic Algorithms

The determination of the optimal circular path has become widely known for its difficulty in producing a solution and for the numerous applications in the scope of organization and management of passenger and freight transport. It is a mathematical combinatorial optimization problem for which several deterministic and heuristic models have been developed in recent years, applicable to route organization issues, passenger and freight transport, storage and distribution of goods, waste collection, supply and control of terminals, as well as human resource management. Scope of the present paper is the development, with the use of fuzzy sets, of a practical, comprehensible and speedy heuristic algorithm for the improvement of the ability of the classical deterministic algorithms to identify optimum, symmetrical or non-symmetrical, circular route. The proposed fuzzy heuristic algorithm is compared to the corresponding deterministic ones, with regard to the deviation of the proposed solution from the best known solution and the complexity of the calculations needed to obtain this solution. It is shown that the use of fuzzy sets reduced up to 35% the deviation of the solution identified by the classical deterministic algorithms from the best known solution.