Efficient Hybrid Multi-Population Genetic Algorithm for Multi-UAV Task Assignment in Consumer Electronics Applications

In recent years, as people’s living standards have improved and consumption concepts have been transformed, the demand for purchasing consumer electronics online has continued to grow, further stimulating the development of the logistics industry. Consequently, how to deliver consumer electronics to households at minimal cost has become a crucial factor that limits the development of the consumer technology industry. To tackle this problem, this paper studies the task assignment problem for multiple initially dispersed UAVs to deliver products to target locations while minimizing their total operation time. Each UAV can continuously provide delivery services to multiple target locations within its limited loading capacity and operation time. To solve this problem, we propose several hybrid multi-population genetic algorithms. First, a novel crossover operator for the genetic algorithms is designed, through which a single parent chromosome can generate offspring individually. Second, two mutation mechanisms are performed to increase gene diversity. Third, multiple local search strategies are employed to enhance the populations’ fitness during each iteration of evolution. An improved 2-opt local search strategy is applied to optimize individual chromosomes when their similarity with the current best chromosome falls below a prescribed threshold. Alternatively, local search strategies are utilized for 1-opt, 2h-opt, and interchange processes. Combining local search strategies, genetic operators, and the multi-population mechanism leads to several hybrid multi-population genetic algorithms. Numerical simulations and experimental tests demonstrate that the hybrid multi-population genetic algorithm, integrated with the improved 2-opt and 1-opt local search strategies, exhibits superior performance among the designed hybrid genetic algorithms, the minimum marginal cost algorithm (MMA), and the existing popular Co-evolutionary Multi-population Genetic Algorithm (CMGA). In experimental scenarios, the hybrid multi-population genetic algorithm significantly improves CMGA and MMA, reducing UAVs’ total operation time by 4.8% and 13.8%, respectively. This demonstrates its efficiency in meeting the growing demand for low-cost delivery of consumer electronics. This method ensures that logistics operations remain agile and approachable to growing market needs, reinforcing the consumer technology industry’s capability to meet customer expectations in a viable landscape.