Tabu search with fully sequential procedure for simulation optimization

Abstract

Simulation is a descriptive technique that is used to understand the behaviour of both conceptual and real systems. Most of the real life systems are dynamic and stochastic that it may be very difficult to derive analytical representation. Simulation can be used to model and to analyze these systems. Although simulation provides insightful information about the system behaviour, it cannot be used to optimize the system performance. With the development of the metaheuristics, the concept simulation optimization has became a reality in recent years. A simulation optimization technique uses simulation as an evaluator, and tries to optimize the systems performance by setting appropriate values of simulation input. On the other hand, statistical ranking and selection procedures are used to find the best system design among a set of alternatives with a desired confidence level. In this study, we combine these two methodologies and investigate the performance of the hybrid procedure. Tabu Search (TS) heuristic is combined with the Fully Sequential Procedure (FSP) in simulation optimization context. The performance of the combined procedure is examined in four different systems. The effectiveness of the FSP is assessed considering the computational effort and the convergence to the best (near optimal) solution.