PCB ASSEMBLY PLANNING USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS

Printed circuit boards (PCB) are used extensively in industry for the manufacture of electronic and electromechanical products. One of the p rimary concerns in the manufacture of PCBs is the determination of the optimal assembly plan. This paper presents work that leads to the dev elopment of an approach to PCB assembly planning using genetic algorit hms (GAs). The approach takes into consideration component insertion p riority and sequencing decision rules. A polygamy reproduction mechani sm with dual mutation has been proposed and implemented. Details of th e approach are described. A PCB model extracted from the literature wa s used for performance evaluation. Derails of the evaluation are prese nted.