What is "tabu search"

n. A combinatorial search technique used to solve optimization problems by tracking and guiding the search.

Tabu search, created by Fred W. Glover in 1986 and formalized in 1989, is a metaheuristic search method employing local search methods used for mathematical optimization.

Local (neighborhood) searches take a potential solution to a problem and check its immediate neighbors (that is, solutions that are similar except for one or two minor details) in the hope of finding an improved solution. Local search methods have a tendency to become stuck in suboptimal regions or on plateaus where many solutions are equally fit.

Tabu search enhances the performance of local search by relaxing its basic rule. First, at each step worsening moves can be accepted if no improving move is available (like when the search is stuck at a strict local minimum). In addition, prohibitions (henceforth the term tabu) are introduced to discourage the search from coming back to previously-visited solutions.

The implementation of tabu search uses memory structures that describe the visited solutions or user-provided sets of rules. If a potential solution has been previously visited within a certain short-term period or if it has violated a rule, it is marked as " tabu" (forbidden) so that the algorithm does not consider that possibility repeatedly.