Optimum ship pilot plan model based on the modified discrete particle swarm optimization

An optimum ship pilot plan model with unknown pilot number is presented. Based on the analysis of the difficulties to solve the problem, a pseudo travel salesman problem (TSP) model is presented to describe the model. A novel modified discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm base on the inver-over operator (IDPSO) is presented. Experiments carried out on the traveling salesman problem show that the modified IDPSO achieves good results comparing with the general DPSO. The new algorithm can improve both the convergence speed and solution precision. This modified algorithm is used to solve the optimum ship pilot plan problem. Simulations were carried and the results show that the pseudo travel salesman problem is very fit for describe the model. The computation with practical data shows that the model and the solving method are very effective.