A novel meta-heuristic inspired by Physarum polycephalum fungus for the metro transport modelling problem

• Grant number: 14/08541-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2014
• End date: June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computational Mathematics
• Principal Investigator: Fabricio Olivetti de França
• Grantee: Mayara Mesiano Carrasco
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project will study and formalize a novel meta-heuristic inspired on the behavior of the fungus Physarum polycephalum for the creation of an efficient transport network measured by the information flow demand. Specificaly, the metro rail network of the city of São Paulo will be used as a real-case scenario according to the available usage statistics. As a starting point, the minimization of total flow will be formalized as an objective-function to be optimized. This function will be based on the available usage data of the metro rail and its analogy with the information used by Physarum polycephalum in order to create its nutrient transport network. Following, based on a computer model of this fungus behavior, a novel meta-heuristic will be proposed in order to solve the transportation network modelling problem. Finally, the obtained results will be evaluated by comparing the total people flow, average distance and fault tolerance when compared to real-world networks. (AU)