Metaheuristics are often used to find solutions to real and complex problems. These algorithms can solve optimization problems and provide solutions close to the global optimum in an acceptable and reasonable time. In this paper, we will present a new bio-inspired metaheuristic based on the natural chasing and attacking behaviors of rats in nature, called a Rat swarm optimizer. Which has given good results in solving several continuous optimization problems, and adapted it to solve a discrete, NP-hard, and classical optimization problem that is the traveling salesman problem (TSP) while respecting the natural behavior of rats. To test the efficiency of the adaptation of our proposal, we applied the adapted rat swarm optimization (RSO) algorithm to some reference instances of TSPLIB. The obtained results show the performance of the proposed method in solving the traveling salesman problem (TSP).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.