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Some applications of the clustered travelling salesman problem

Article  in  Journal of the Operational Research Society · September 2002

DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601420

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Journal of the Operational Research Society (2002) 53, 972–976 #2002 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved. 0160-5682/02 $15.00
www.palgrave-journals.com/jors

Some applications of the clustered travelling

salesman problem
G Laporte1* and U Palekar2
1
École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Montréal, Canada; and 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Urbana, IL, USA
The purpose of this article is to describe several applications of the clustered travelling salesman problem arising in areas
as diverse as vehicle routing, manufacturing, computer operations, examination timetabling, cytological testing, and
integrated circuit testing.
Journal of the Operational Research Society (2002) 53, 972–976. doi:10.1057=palgrave.jors.2601420

Keywords: clustered travelling salesman problem; applications

Introduction tions of the CTSP arise in areas as diverse as vehicle

The purpose of this article is to describe several applications
of the clustered travelling salesman problem (CTSP), a
variant of the well-known travelling salesman problem
(TSP). The CTSP is defined on a complete graph G ¼
ðV ; EÞ in the undirected case or (V, A) in the directed case,
where V ¼ fv1 ; . . . ; vn g is a vertex set partitioned into m clus-
ters V1 ; . . . ; Vm . The set E ¼ fðvi ; vj Þ : vi ; vj 2 V ; i < jg is an
edge set, and A ¼ fðvi ; vj Þ : vi ; vj 2 V ; i 6¼ jg is an arc set,
so that both the undirected and the directed case can be
considered. A cost matrix C ¼ ðcij Þ is defined on E or A.
The CTSP consists of determining a least cost Hamiltonian
cycle or circuit on G in which the vertices of any cluster Vk
are contiguous. The CTSP coincides with the TSP whenever
all clusters are singletons. In general, the CTSP can readily
be transformed into a TSP by adding an arbitrarily large
constant M to inter-cluster costs, or by subtracting M from
intra-cluster costs. However, such transformations introduce
a fair amount of degeneracy in the problem and it may be
preferable to solve the CTSP directly by means of a
specialized algorithm.1
The CTSP was introduced by Chisman2 and early algo-
rithms were provided by Lokin,3 and Jongens and Volge-
nant.4 These authors have described simple applications in
M ðt ¼ 1; . . . ; hÞ; where t þ 1 must be interpreted as
the areas of vehicle routing, warehouse order picking and
manufacturing. Our aim is to provide a much wider range of
1 j ¼ cit j ðt ¼ 1; . . . ; hÞ (Figure 1). This transfor-
well-known and new applications of the CTSP, and thereby
to show the potential of this problem as a modelling tool.
This article follows two similar contributions on the TSP5
and on the generalized travelling salesman problem
1 Þ and an arc ðvit
1 ; vj Þ for some vj 2
1 j
(GTSP)6 to be described in the following section. Applica-
*Correspondence: G Laporte, Canada Research Chair in Distribution
Management and GERAD, École des Hautes Études Commerciales, 3000
chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, Canada H3T 2A7.
E-mail: gilbert@crt.umontreal.ca
routing, manufacturing, computer operations, examination
timetabling, cytological reading, integrated circuit testing,
and computer program restructuring. Before describing
these in the following sections, we outline a key relationship
between the CTSP and the GTSP.
The generalized travelling salesman problem
The GTSP is another important variant of the TSP in which
the aim is to determine a least cost Hamiltonian cycle or
circuit containing exactly one vertex from each cluster.
Noon and Bean7 have shown that in the directed case the
GTSP can be transformed into an equivalent TSP containing
the same number of vertices. Laporte and Semet8 have
provided a similar transformation for the undirected case
in which the number of vertices is doubled. In fact, both
these transformations use the CTSP as an intermediate step.
For the sake of completeness we briefly recall for each case
how the GTSP can be transformed into a CTSP.
If G is directed the transformation can be accomplished in
two steps. First arbitrarily order the vertices of each cluster
Vk as vi1 ; . . . ; vih where h ¼ jVk j; and redefine cit itþ1 ¼
t þ 1 (mod h). Second, for every vit 2 Vk and vj 2 = Vk ;
redefine cit
mation works since if cluster Vk is entered through vertex vit
in a CTSP solution, then the optimal Hamiltonian circuit
will necessarily contain the subsequence ðvit ; vitþ1 ; . . . ; vi1 ;
. . . ; vit
= Vk : Since cit
has been redefined as cit j ; the cost of the CTSP solution is
equal to that of the GTSP solution plus a large constant
equal to nM.
For the undirected case, Laporte and Semet8 apply the
following three steps. First arbitrarily order the vertices

Figure 1 Graph transformation for the directed GTSP.
of each cluster Vk (with jVk j > 1Þ as vi1 ; . . . ; vik ; where
h ¼ jVk j: Second, create a copy vi0t of each vertex vit ; and
insert vi0t to the right of vit in the sequence. Third, define
cit i0t ¼
M and ci0t itþ1 ¼
2M: Finally, for any vit 2 Vk and in the case of multilevel warehouses where an order picker
vj 2 = Vk ; define an edge ðvi0t ; vj Þ of cost cit j (Figure 2). The
nan optimal CTSP solution on the transformed graph is
again equivalent to an optimal GTSP solution on G.
The formal interest of these transformations is that all
applications of the GTSP can be viewed as cases of the
CTSP, but again it is preferable to solve the GTSP by means
of specialized algorithms.9,10 In the following, we show that
several real-life applications can also be modelled directly as
a CTSP.
Vehicle routing applications
A number of vehicle routing applications of the CTSP are
immediate.
The travelling salesman problem with backhauls
(TSPB)11 is defined on a graph G in which the vertex set
is partitioned into {{v1}, L, B}, where v1 is a depot, L is a set
Figure 2 Graph transformation for the undirected GTSP.
G Laporte and U Palekar—Some applications of the clustered TSP 973
of linehaul customers, and B is a set of backhaul customers.
The TSPB consists of determining a least cost Hamiltonian
cycle or circuit on G, starting and ending at the depot, and
such that all linehaul customers are visited before backhaul
customers. Whether G is directed or not, the TSPB can be
modelled as a CTSP with clusters V1 ¼ fv1 g; V2 ¼ L and
V3 ¼ B: In the directed case, the only arcs with non-infinite
costs are from V1 to V2, from V2 to V3 and from V3 to V1.
The vehicle routing problem with backhauls (VRPB) is
similar, but then several vehicle routes start and end at the
depot. This problem cannot be modelled as a CTSP, but a
CTSP algorithm can be applied to post-optimize each
vehicle route in a feasible VRPB solution.
Chisman2 described the following application in the area
of warehousing. In some contexts orders to be picked up
are composed of several bills of lading, each of which is
made up of several stock numbers. A motorized vehicle is
dispatched to pick up all stock numbers in such a way that
all stock numbers within the same bill of lading are picked
up contiguously. A second warehousing application12 arises
fills the orders one level at a time. Mail pickup and delivery
in a multi-storey or multi-pavilion office complex is a simi-
lar application. There also exist other warehousing applica-
tions that are more naturally modelled as a GTSP, such as
order picking where the same item is located at several
locations.13
Another routing application of the CTSP is where a
vehicle must visit customers with several priority levels
and all customers with a high priority must be seen before
customers having a lower priority. Such an example was
recently described by Weintraub et al14 in the context of
dispatching emergency vehicles to clients of an electric
utility in Chile.
Manufacturing applications
We now describe applications of the CTSP in manufactur-
ing.
A CTSP example arising in manufacturing is where holes
of different types have to be drilled on a rectangular sheet
using tools mounted in a carousel, and the set of tools
present in the carousel remains the same for the entire
production process. Typically, the sheet can move in both
the X and Y directions to position a hole location under the
tool, and the carousel rotates freely in either direction to
provide the appropriate tool. If Z represents the time
required to change tools, and X, Y are the times associated
with a move in the X and Y direction, respectively, then the
overall processing times between two drilling operations can
be expressed by one of the four metrics X þ Y þ Z; max {X,
Y, Z}, Z þ max fX ; Y g; max fX þ Y ; Zg; depending on
whether movements are made sequentially or simulta-
neously in any dimension.15 The most common case appears
to be max{X, Y, Z}. Lokin3 models this problem as a CTSP,
974 Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 53, No. 9

where clusters are made up of all hole locations requiring

the same tool. Similar applications exist in chip insertion
and printed circuit board manufacturing. In the same
context, Laporte et al15 have studied the problem of opti-
mally determining sequences of tools to be used in the same
pass of drilling operations.
In single machine scheduling it is common to have set-up
times between parts.16 However, similar parts will have
relatively small set-up times while changeover costs are
large between dissimilar families of parts. This problem can
therefore be viewed as a CTSP where clusters are made up
of parts belonging to the same family.
Plate cutting provides another example of the CTSP. In
this problem disjoint parts have to be cut from a rectangular
sheet and it is required that each part must be cut completely
without preemption. The time taken by the cutter to move
from one point to another is measured using a Tchebychev
norm. The problem requires one to find the order in which
the polygons are to be cut as well as a single point at which Figure 4 Computer disk before and after defragmentation.
each polygon perimeter is entered so that the overall time to
cut the polygons and move between them is minimized.
Using geometric properties of the Tchebychev norm, Hoeft depends not only on the order in which the patterns are cut
and Palekar17 show that the continuous perimeter of each but also on the precise arrangement of the widths within the
polygon can be reduced to a finite non-polynomial set of pattern. If there are n widths in a pattern then there can be as
dominating points and propose algorithms for identifying many as n! possible arrangements of the widths in a pattern.
these points. This dominating set ensures that it is sufficient The possible arrangements of a pattern form a cluster and
to consider these points alone as the entry points and still the problem can be modelled as a CTSP.
guarantee an optimal solution. These points contain all
vertices and possibly a number of other points on the poly-
Disk defragmentation
gon perimeters (Figure 3). It is easy to see that the domina-
ting set for each polygon forms a cluster and the resulting When files are stored on computer disks, space is allocated
problem is a CTSP. in units of ‘storage clusters’. A file can be fragmented, ie, it
Paper-roll cutting offers yet another manufacturing appli- can span several storage clusters scattered on the same disk
cation of the CTSP. In the usual cutting stock problem, it is (Figure 4). The defragmentation process consists of reas-
common to determine sets of widths called patterns that are signing storage clusters so that all clusters assigned to the
to be cut from a common base or master roll so that scrap is same file become contiguous. To maintain data integrity, this
minimized.18,19 Once the patterns are determined, a sequen- reassignment is performed one file at a time. To minimize
cing problem must be solved to minimize the amount of the time required for defragmentation the distance moved by
setup time for a given set of patterns.20 The set-up time the read–write magnetic head between files must be mini-
mized. Such a problem is described in a Microsoft electronic
publication21 and the programs used for defragmentation are
part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. All storage
clusters belonging to the same file constitute a cluster in the
CTSP, and the problem of minimizing defragmentation time
can be directly stated as a CTSP.

Figure 3 Polygonal parts showing dominant points.
Examination timetabling
In examination timetabling, the aim is to schedule examina-
tions in time periods over several days so that there is no
conflict, ie, no student can write two exams at the same time,
and a number of side constraints and objectives are satis-
fied.22 This is usually accomplished in two phases. First, a
feasible solution is constructed by means of a sequential
allocation procedure possibly involving some back-tracking

steps, and a post-optimization phase can then be applied.
This can consist of moving exams to different periods, of
applying multiple interchanges of exams or of permuting
entire periods without modifying their content. The purpose
of a post-optimization phase is typically to minimize occur-
rences of exams taken in close succession. Several versions
of the examination timetabling problem exists as the rules
vary among universities. Some institutions (eg, the Univer-
sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) impose the constraint
that no student can write more than two exams in the same
day. A natural objective to minimize in a post-optimization
phase is the number of student-exams in consecutive periods
(this includes the last period of a day followed by the first
period of the next day). Once a feasible solution exists, a
sensible strategy is to permute periods within the same days
in order to maintain feasibility, or to permute entire days.
This way of operating does not alter the set of examinations
taken each day. The examination timetabling post-optimiza-
tion problem can then be solved as a CTSP in which each
period is a vertex and each day is a cluster. An application of
this approach is described by Balakrishnan et al.23
Cytology and embroidery
Two seemingly different applications of the CTSP arise in
the screening of cytological samples and in embroidery.
The cytology application described by Laporte et al24
involves viewing material presented on a glass slide using a
microscope. The data is first digitized into pixels (between
2500 and 55000 in a typical application). The microscope
has a limited field of view, which means that a few hundreds
of readings are often necessary. Also, the slide contains
empty areas which do not require viewing. The problem
consists of first determining a set of tiles consisting of all
pixels to be examined in single viewing, and of then com-
puting a sequence of viewings through all the tiles. The se-
quencing problem is a direct TSP application. However, since
the cytological sample often contain smears, ie, large
clusters of contiguous tiles (Figure 5), it is preferable to read
these consecutively, thus giving rise to a CTSP. In practice, a
trained technician identifies the smears visually in a pre-
processing phase.
The embroidery application is conceptually similar. A
pattern often consists of points to be stitched on a canvas.
Some of these points are clustered. In automated stitching
processes, large areas of a pattern requiring the same colour
must be stitched continuously.
Integrated circuit testing
When testing integrated circuits it is common to identify
(usually a minimum number of) clusters of test points in
such a way that by taking pairs of points from two separate
clusters all possible test connections are covered. The CTSP
arises once the set of clustered test points are identified and
G Laporte and U Palekar—Some applications of the clustered TSP 975
Figure 5 Cytological sample showing smears.
the test are actually performed. The testing procedure
involves fixing one test point in a cluster and going through
all points of each other cluster. To minimize test probe
movement it is common to visit every point in a test cluster
before moving on to the next cluster. The problem of
performing the tests for a given fixed set of points can be
seen to be a CTSP.
Computer program restructuring
Horspool and Laks25 describe the problem of restructuring
the internal structure of computer programs, which are
frequently executed, to minimize memory page faults and
reduce execution times. Their approach involves the cluster-
ing of relocatable blocks of code followed by a resequencing
of the clusters to minimize the number of times control is
transferred between clusters. Given the code block clusters
from the first step of their approach, the sequencing step can
clearly be modelled as a CTSP.
Conclusions
The CTSP provides a versatile modelling tool for several
operational research applications arising in a wide variety of
areas. It can also be used as an intermediate step to trans-
form the GTSP into a TSP.
Acknowledgements—This research was partly supported by the Canadian
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council under grant number
OGP0039682 and by ICR funds from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due
to two referees for their valuable comments.
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Received October 2000;
accepted April 2002 after one revision