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Looking Ahead with the Pilot Method

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Abstract

The pilot method as a meta-heuristic is a tempered greedy method aimed at obtaining better solutions while avoiding the greedy trap by looking ahead for each possible choice. Repeatedly a master solution is modified; each time in a minimal fashion to account for best choices, where choices are judged by means of a separate heuristic result, the pilot solution.

The pilot method may be seen as a meta-heuristic enhancing the quality of (any) heuristic in a system for heuristic repetition. Experiments show that the pilot method as well as similar methods can behave quite competitively in comparison with well-known and accepted meta-heuristics. In this paper we review some less known results. As a higher time complexity is usually associated with repetition, we investigate a simple short-cut policy to reduce the running times, while retaining an enhanced solution quality. Furthermore, we report successful experiments that incorporate a distinguishing feature of the pilot method, which is the extension of neighborhoods into “local” search, creating tabu search hybrids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik, Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Stefan Voßs & Andreas Fink

  2. Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Econometrie, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Roeterstraat 11, NL-1018 WB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Cees Duin

Authors
  1. Stefan Voßs
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  2. Andreas Fink
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  3. Cees Duin
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Correspondence to Stefan Voßs.

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Voßs, S., Fink, A. & Duin, C. Looking Ahead with the Pilot Method. Ann Oper Res 136, 285–302 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-005-2060-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-005-2060-2

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