An ant colony optimization approach to the traveling tournament problem

Abstract

The traveling tournament problem has proven to be a difficult problem for the ant colony optimization metaheuristic, with past approaches showing poor results. This is due to the unusual problem structure and feasibility constraints. We present a new ant colony optimization approach to this problem, hybridizing it with a forward checking and conflict-directed backjumping algorithm while using pattern matching and other constraint satisfaction strategies. The approach improves on the performance of past ant colony optimization approaches, finding better quality solutions in shorter time, and exhibits results comparable to other state-of-the-art approaches.