RFID network planning optimization using a genetic-simulated annealing combined algorithm

The main purpose of this paper is to present and apply a genetic and simulated annealing combined algorithm to solve an optimization problem of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network planning in an emergency department of a hospital. Accordingly, though genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) have advantages and disadvantages, but they are also complementary. Hence, the combined algorithm not only takes advantages of the two methods, but also avoids their disadvantages. The simulation results in an emergency department of a hospital present that the proposed method provides minimum total cost and maximum RFID network coverage in a simultaneous way with the efficient use of multi-antenna RFID readers. Besides, the results of comparison of two scenarios of the model with the results of other existing models in the relevant literature show that the proposed model has better outcomes.