QoS multicast routing based on a hybrid quantum evolutionary algorithm with firefly algorithm

The quality of service multicast routing problem (QoSMRP) is a very interesting research issue for transmission in communication networks. It is known to be an NP-hard problem, so many heuristic algorithms have been employed for solving this problem. This paper proposes two hybrid approaches based on the hybridization of Firefly algorithm (FA) with Quantum Evolutionary algorithm (QEA) to solve the QoS multicast routing problem. The main idea of the first approach, named FAQEA1, is the integration of the evolutionary equation of FA in the evolutionary operator of QEA; while the main idea of the second approach, named FAQEA2, is the replacement of the evolutionary equation of QEA by the evolutionary equation of FA. The aim of these approaches is to avoid the premature convergence, ensure the diversity of the solutions and enhance the efficiency of QEA. The experimental results reveal the superiority and effectiveness of our proposed algorithms compared with other existing algorithms.