On optimal decision for QoS-aware composite service selection

With the development of web service theories and technologies, it has been an effective approach to satisfy users' requirements through service composition. Service selection is an important part of service composition and its efficiency has direct impact on the quality of composite service. Therefore, in this study, a novel service selection algorithm, named Niche Particle Swarm Optimization (NPSO) algorithm is presented, which integrates Simulated Annealing (SA) and niche technique into Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and inherits the rapid local search ability of PSO and global convergence of SA. Experimental results show that NPSO algorithm is not only feasible but also efficient in the process of solving the web service selection problem. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.