Balanced Quantum-Inspired Evolutionary Algorithm for Multiple Knapsack Problem

0/1 Multiple Knapsack Problem, a generalization of more popular 0/1 Knapsack Problem, is NP-hard and considered harder than simple Knapsack Problem. 0/1 Multiple Knapsack Problem has many applications in disciplines related to computer science and operations research. Quantum Inspired Evolutionary Algorithms (QIEAs), a subclass of Evolutionary algorithms, are considered effective to solve difficult problems particularly NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. A hybrid QIEA is presented for multiple knapsack problem which incorporates several features for better balance between exploration and exploitation. The proposed QIEA, dubbed QIEA-MKP, provides significantly improved performance over simple QIEA from both the perspectives viz., the quality of solutions and computational effort required to reach the best solution. QIEA-MKP is also able to provide the solutions that are better than those obtained using a well known heuristic alone.