Optimization of Distribution Routes by Hybrid DNA-ACO Algorithm

With an increasing share of cold-chain drugs and biologics such as vaccines and blood plasma products in the total drug production, their protection throughout the transportation logistics cycle turns into a challenging task. Special drugs or pharmaceuticals, which are used for special therapy procedures in clinical centers, ambulances, and outpatient after-care, must be in the "cold chain" temperature range, such as controlled room temperature, and should be delivered within a certain range of time. This raises the vehicle routing problem and requires the optimization of their distribution routes. In this paper, based on the analysis of the transport characteristics of special drugs, a distribution routing optimization model is proposed. Using DNA computing (DNA) and ant colony optimization (ACO), the model was numerically implemented for simple conditions and the results obtained were compared to those provided by alternative ACO and FSACO (fish swarm ant colony optimization) algorithm. The proposed DNA-ACO approach provides more efficient cost minimization than the above algorithms and effectively solves the problem of the distribution routing optimization for special drugs.