Improvement in Genetic Algorithm with Genetic Operator Combination (GOC) and Immigrant Strategies for Multicast Routing in Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In this paper, an improved Genetic Algorithm GA is proposed for solving multicast routing problem by optimizing combined objectives of network lifetime and delay. This algorithm employs Genetic Operator combination GOC and immigrant strategies. The GOC contains modified topology crossover, node and energy mutations. Immigrant strategies are the specific replacement operators designed for dynamic optimization problems and it is naturally suited for multicast routing in ad hoc networks. The random immigrant with random replacement, random immigrant with worst replacement, elitism based immigrant and hybrid immigrant strategies are combined with GOC individually, and formed four different algorithms. The performance of these algorithms is evaluated in different size networks through simulation. The results of the proposed algorithms are compared with other existing algorithms using nonparametric statistical tests with average ranking. These test results endorse that the proposed algorithms improve the performance of GA in solving multicast routing problems effectively.