6 Swarm intelligence: Ants

6.1      What is swarm intelligence?

Swarm intelligence algorithms are a subset of evolutionary algorithms that were discussed in chapter 5 and are also known as nature-inspired algorithms. As with the theory of evolution, the observation of the behavior of life forms in nature is the inspiration for the concepts behind swarm intelligence. When we observe the world around us, we see many lifeforms that are seemingly primitive and unintelligent as individuals, yet exhibit intelligent emergent behavior when acting in groups.

6.2      Problems applicable to ant colony optimization

6.3      Representing state: What do paths and ants look like?

6.4      The ant colony optimization algorithm life cycle

6.4.1   Initialize the pheromone trails

6.4.2   Set up the population of ants

6.4.3   Choose the next visit for each ant

6.4.4   Update the pheromone trails

6.4.5   Update the best solution

6.4.6   Determine the stopping criteria

6.5      Use cases for ant colony optimization algorithms