Skip to main content

Evolutionary Heuristics for the Bin Packing Problem

  • Conference paper
Artificial Neural Nets and Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the use of two evolutionary based heuristic to the bin packing problem. The intractability of this problem is a motivation for the pursuit of heuristics that produce approximate solutions. Unlike other evolutionary based heuristics used with optimization problems, ours do not use domain-specific knowledge and has no specialized genetic operators. It uses a straightforward fitness function to which a graded penalty term is added to penalize infeasible strings. The encoding of the problem makes use of strings that are of integer value. Strings do not represent permutations of the objects as is the case in most approaches to this problem. We use a different representation and give justifications for our choice. Several problem instances are used with a greedy heuristic and the evolutionary based algorithms. We compare the results and conclude with some observations, and suggestions on the use of evolutionary heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Th. Bäck and M. Schütz. Evolution strategies for mixed- integer optimization of optical multilayer systems. In Proceedings of the 4th Annual Conference on Evolutionary Programming, 1995. (accepted for publication).

    Google Scholar 

  2. J. E. Beasley. OR-Library: Distributing test problems by electronic mail. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 41 (11): 1069–1072, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  3. A. L. Corcoran and R. L. Wainwright. Libga: A user-friendly workbench for order-based genetic algorithm research. In Proceedings of the 1993 ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing, pages 111–117. ACM, ACM Press, February 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  4. E. Falkenaur. A new representation and operators for genetic algorithms applied to grouping problems. Evolutionary Computation, 2 (2): 123–144, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson. Computers and Intractability — A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. Freemann Sz Co., San Francisco, CA, 1979.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. D. E. Goldberg. Genetic algorithms in search, optimization and machine learning. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1989.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. J. H. Holland. Adaptation in natural and artificial systems. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  8. S. Khuri, T. Bäck, and J. Heitkötter. An evolutionary approach to combinatorial optimization problems. In D. Cizmar, editor, Proceedings of the 22 nd Annual ACM Computer Science Conference, pages 66–73. ACM, ACM Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  9. S. Martello and P. Toth. Knapsack Problems: Algorithms and Computer Implementations. Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex, England, 1990.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. C. H. Papadimitriou. Computational Complexity. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. M. Schütz. Eine Evolutionsstrategie für gemischt-ganzzahlige Optimierungsprobleme mit variabler Dimension. Diplomarbeit, Universität Dortmund, Fachbereich Informatik, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  12. H.-P. Schwefel. Evolution and Optimum Seeking. Wiley, New York, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  13. D. R. Stinson. An Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms. The Charles Babbage Research Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 2nd edition, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1995 Springer-Verlag/Wien

About this paper

Cite this paper

Khuri, S., Schütz, M., Heitkötter, J. (1995). Evolutionary Heuristics for the Bin Packing Problem. In: Artificial Neural Nets and Genetic Algorithms. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7535-4_75

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7535-4_75

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-82692-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-7535-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics