Genetic algorithm for time-satisfaction-based set covering location problems

This paper presents the time-satisfaction-based covering location problem (TSBSCLP), a more general set covering problem than the classical set covering location problem. Given a discrete network, we formulate TSBSCLP as an integer programming under the goal of minimizing the total fixed costs of selected facilities, and then provide a mixed genetic algorithm strategies to solve the variety of size of the problem, the result was analyzed after computational experiment and compared with some heuristic algorithms which have proven to be overall the best in solving set covering location problems. The computational experiment shows a good performance of our mixed genetic algorithm.