Hybrid Niche Genetic Algorithm for Set Covering Problem

Set covering problem (SCP) is a well-know combinatorial optimization problem. This paper presents a hybrid niche genetic algorithm to solve set covering problem. The various genetic representation strategies of SCP are analyzed and an effective non-binary representation method is proposed. The method of search space compression is then presented and the hybrid niche genetic algorithm is designed. Finally, the hybrid algorithm is tested by using some SCP instances and the computational results demonstrate the good performance of hybrid genetic algorithm on SCP.