Ant Colony Algorithms with Characteristic of Clustering for Surface Mount Technology Optimization

Based on the Ant Colony Algorithm with clustering processing, a new algorithm is proposed for solving the route optimization of surface mount. According to the actual condition, a new clustering technique for electronic component is provided to simplify the scale of the problem and to reduce the numbers of changing suction mouths; Integrated considering the features of informational hormones updating, a new strategy is presented to update the informational hormones, which is suit for the working situations of surface mount. It avoids many constraints of the old algorithm and the separation from the working facts because of simplifying the problems. Theoretical analysis proves that this algorithm is superior to the traditional one of optimizing the route of surface mount.