Modeling Optimal Path of Touch Sensor of Coordinate Measuring Machine Based on Traveling Salesman Problem Solution

Abstract The article justifies the necessity of reducing the measurement time of the part surfaces in the coordinate measuring machine by minimizing the trajectory of the sensor. It is established that the search of the minimal path by the sensor corresponds to the travelling salesman problem that can be solved by exact or approximate method. The branch and bound method and ant colony optimization are selected for comparison. We perform computer simulation for finding the optimal path of the sensor by controlling different numbers of points on plane, cylindrical and spherical surfaces. It is established that ant colony algorithm gives close to optimal solution and requires far less time for its search in contrast to the branch and bound algorithm. Application of the ant colony optimization will significantly improve the performance of the measurement of the part surfaces in the coordinate measuring machine.