Iterated Local Search

Abstract

This is a survey of "Iterated Local Search", a general purpose metaheuristic for finding good solutions of combinatorial optimization problems. It is based on building a sequence of (locally optimal) solutions by: (1) perturbing the current solution; (2) applying local search to that modified solution. At a high level, the method is simple, yet it allows for a detailed use of problem-specific properties. After giving a general framework, we cover the uses of Iterated Local Search on a number of well studied problems.