Theoretical and experimental study on parameters setting of Ant Colony Optimization

The parameters setting of evaporation rate and initial pheromone value of ant colony optimization are studied in this paper. Theorem 1 shows that the pheromone increment is a value between g(s_max) and g(s_min), which provides theoretical basis for the setting of the low pheromone bound tau _min. The estimation formula of evaporation rate p is given. The results are useful to understanding this algorithm and using it to solve combinatorial optimization problems. Results of simulation experiments testify the effectiveness of the conclusions.