An enhanced ant colony optimization algorithm for global path planning of deep-sea mining vehicles

Due to the complex variations in slope within deep-sea mining areas, effective path planning for mining vehicle operations is crucial for minimizing energy consumption. However, traditional ant colony algorithms (ACO) neglect the effect of a terrain slope in mining areas. Additionally, these algorithms exhibit limitations such as slow convergence and susceptibility to local optima. To address these issues, this study proposes an enhanced ant colony algorithm, called DYACO, for mining vehicle path optimization. This algorithm dynamically adjusts heuristic information, pheromone volatilization factor, pheromone update strategy, and state transition probability during the iterative process to enhance traditional ACO. Simulation experiments were conducted to comprehensively assess the proposed model, revealing that DYACO not only generates optimal solutions but also demonstrates significant advantages in terms of convergence speed and turning times. Furthermore, DYACO converts the time required for mining vehicles to traverse different slope regions into distances, then incorporating slope effects to path planning for deep-sea mining vehicles. In comparison to ACO, DYACO achieves a 15.3% reduction in the length of an optimal path and a 70.0% decrease in the number of turn times.