Applying gravitational search algorithm in the QoS-based Web service selection problem

With the growing use of service-oriented architecture for designing next generation software systems, the service composition problem and its execution complexity have become even more important in responding to different user requests. The gravitational search algorithm is one of the latest heuristic algorithms. It has a number of distinguishing features, such as rapid convergence, lower memory usage, and the use of particular parameters, for instance, the distance between the solutions. In this paper, we propose a model for the optimization of the Web service composition problem based on qualitative measures and the gravitational search algorithm. To determine the efficacy of this proposed model we solve the problem with the particle swarm optimization algorithm for comparison. Simulation results show that the gravitational search algorithm has a high potential and substantial efficiency in finding the best combination of Web services.