An Elastic Net Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem
This is an implementation in Python of the elastic net
algorithm proposed by Durbin and
Willshaw [1] to solve
the
Traveling Salesman Problem. The source code is
available
on GitHub.
Visualize the algorithm in your browser at https://larose.github.io/tsp
Elastic Net Algorithm
The elastic net algorithm is an iterative procedure where M points, with M larger than the number of cities N, are lying on a circular ring or "rubber band" originally located at the center of the cities. The rubber band is gradually elongated until it passes sufficiently near each city to define a tour. During that process two forces apply: one for minimizing the length of the ring, and the other one for minimizing the distance between the cities and the points on the ring. These forces are gradually adjusted as the procedure evolves.
Jean-Yves Potvin [2]
