A parallel genetic algorithm approach to solving the unit commitment problem: implementation on the transputer networks

Through a constraint handling technique, this paper proposes a parallel genetic algorithm (GA) approach to solving the thermal unit commitment (UC) problem. The developed algorithm is implemented on an eight-processor transputer network, processors of which are arranged in master-slave and dual-direction ring structures, respectively. The proposed approach has been tested on a 38-unit thermal power system over a 24-hour period. Speed-up and efficiency for each topology with different number of processor are compared to those of the sequential GA approach. The proposed topology of dual-direction ring is shown to be well amenable to parallel implementation of the GA for the UC problem.