A Modified Pareto Ant Colony Optimization Approach to Solve Biobjective Weapon-Target Assignment Problem

The weapon-target assignment (WTA) problem, known as an NP-complete problem, aims at seeking a proper assignment of weapons to targets. The biobjective WTA (BOWTA) optimization model which maximizes the expected damage of the enemy and minimizes the cost of missiles is designed in this paper. A modified Pareto ant colony optimization (MPACO) algorithm is used to solve the BOWTA problem. In order to avoid defects in traditional optimization algorithms and obtain a set of Pareto solutions efficiently, MPACO algorithm based on new designed operators is proposed, including a dynamic heuristic information calculation approach, an improved movement probability rule, a dynamic evaporation rate strategy, a global updating rule of pheromone, and a boundary symmetric mutation strategy. In order to simulate real air combat, the pilot operation factor is introduced into the BOWTA model. Finally, we apply the MPACO algorithm and other algorithms to the model and compare the data. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is successfully applied in the field of WTA which improves the performance of the traditional P-ACO algorithm effectively and produces better solutions than the two well-known multiobjective optimization algorithms NSGA-II and SPEA-II.