Bee colony optimization algorithm for wireless network planning problem solving
The article is devoted to solving a wireless network planning task. The authors defined the problem of base stations’ location, taking into account the level of attenuation of signal during propagation, the level of inter -cell interference and several types of base stations. A problem solution is represented as a vector of structures, each structure stores data about one potential site (an installed base station type, a list of connected clients). A modification of one of metaheuristic methods (bee colony optimization algorithm) has been developed. The bee colony optimization method is a multi-agent method based on simulation of intelligent behavior of agent colonies (the so-called swarm intelligence methods). Naturally, some groups of social insects (for example, colonies of ants, bees, termites) have such intellect. The proposed algorithm is based on the concept of current solution neighborhood. Little changes in current wireless network configuration are used to form the neighborhood. To obtain a new solution from the neighborhood of the current solution we can use one of the following two operations: changing the type of a station to more cheap or removing a base station. The developed algorithm is implemented in Delphi programming environment. The article shows that the new algorithm helps to find the solution for the base station location problem in a reasonable time, much faster than the exact method of exhaustive search. The authors found out how the quality of the problem solution obtained by bee colony optimization algorithm depends on values of control parameters.