A Novel Sparrow Search Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem

The sparrow search algorithm (SSA) tends to fall into local optima and to have insufficient stagnation when applied to the traveling salesman problem (TSP). To address this issue, we propose a novel greedy genetic sparrow search algorithm based on a sine and cosine search strategy (GGSC-SSA). First, the greedy algorithm is introduced to initialize the population and to increase the diversity of the population. Second, genetic operators are used to update the population, balancing global search and local development capabilities. Finally, the adaptive weight is introduced in the producer update to increase the adaptability of the algorithm and to optimize the quality of the solution, and a sin-cosine search strategy is introduced to update the scroungers. In addition, the GGSC-SSA is compared with the genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), grey wolf optimization (GWO), ant colony optimization (ACO) and the artificial fish (AF) algorithm on TSP datasets for performance testing. We also compare it with some recently improved algorithms. The results of the simulations are encouraging; the GGSC-SSA significantly enhances the solution precision, optimization speed and robustness.