A Parallel Genetic Algorithm for Shortest Path Routing Problem

Shortest path routing is the type of routing widely used in computer networks nowadays. Even though shortest path routing algorithms are well established, other alternative methods may have their own advantages. One such alternative is to use a GA-based routing algorithm. Based on previous research, GA-based routing algorithm has been found to be more scalable and insensitive to variations in network topologies. However, it is also known that GA-based routing algorithm is not fast enough for real-time computation. In this paper, we proposed a parallel genetic algorithm for solving the shortest path routing problem with the aim to reduce its computation time. This algorithm is developed and run on an MPI cluster. Based on experimental result, there is a tradeoff between computation time and the result accuracy. However, for the same level of accuracy, the proposed parallel algorithm can perform much faster compared to its non-parallel counterpart.