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23-26
This article studies a combination of the two state-of-the-art algorithms for the exact solution of linear programs (LPs) over the rational numbers, i.e., without any roundoff errors or numerical tolerances. By integrating the method of precision boosting inside an LP iterative refinement loop, the combined algorithm is able to leverage the strengths of both methods: the speed of LP iterative refinement, in particular in the majority of cases when a double-precision floating-point solver is able to compute approximate solutions with small errors, and the robustness of precision boosting whenever extended levels of precision become necessary.
We compare the practical performance of the resulting algorithm with both puremethods on a large set of LPs and mixed-integer programs (MIPs). The results show that the combined algorithm solves more instances than a pure LP iterative refinement approach, while being faster than pure precision boosting. When embedded in an exact branch-and-cut framework for MIPs, the combined algorithm is able to reduce the number of failed calls to the exact LP solver to zero, while maintaining the speed of the pure LP iterative refinement approach.
23-24
The currently most popular approach to handle non-linear battery behavior for electric vehicle scheduling is to use a linear spline interpolation of the charge curve. We show that this can lead to approximate models that underestimate the charge duration and overestimate the state of charge, which is not desirable. While the error is of second order with respect to the interpolation step size, the associated mixed-integer linear programs do not scale well with the number of spline segments. It is therefore recommendable to use coarse interpolation grids adapted to the curvature of the charge curve, and to include sufficient safety margins to ensure solutions of approximate models remain feasible subjected to the exact charge curve.
23-23
The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) is a notoriously hard combinatorial optimization problem, essential for the design of periodic timetables in public transportation. The coefficients of the integer variables in the standard mixed integer linear programming formulations of PESP are the period time, e.g., 60 for a horizon of one hour with a resolution of one minute. In many application scenarios, lines with different frequencies have to be scheduled, leading to period times with many divisors. It then seems natural to consider derived instances, where the period time is a divisor of the original one, thereby smaller, and bounds are scaled and rounded accordingly. To this end, we identify two rounding schemes: wide and tight. We then discuss the approximation performance of both strategies, in theory and practice.
23-22
We present incremental heuristics for the Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP), the standard mathematical tool to optimize periodic timetables in public transport. The core of our method is to solve successively larger subinstances making use of previously found solutions. Introducing the technical notion of free stratifications, we formulate a general scheme for incremental heuristics for PESP. More practically, we use line and station information to create heuristics that add lines or stations one by one, and we evaluate these heuristics on instances of the benchmarking library PESPlib. This approach is indeed viable, and leads to new incumbent solutions for six PESPlib instances.
23-20
Construction of a Test Library for the Rolling Stock Rotation Problem with Predictive Maintenance
(2023)
We describe the development of a test library for the rolling stock rotation problem with predictive maintenance (RSRP-PdM). Our approach involves the utilization of genuine timetables from a private German railroad company. The generated instances incorporate probability distribution functions for modeling the health states of the vehicles and the considered trips possess varying degradation functions. RSRP-PdM involves assigning trips to a fleet of vehicles and scheduling their maintenance based on their individual health states. The goal is to minimize the total costs consisting of operational costs and the expected costs associated with vehicle failures. The failure probability is dependent on the health states of the vehicles, which are assumed to be random variables distributed by a family of probability distributions. Each distribution is represented by the parameters characterizing it and during the operation of the trips, these parameters get altered. Our approach incorporates non-linear degradation functions to describe the inference of the parameters but also linear ones could be applied. The resulting instances consist of the timetables of the individual lines that use the same vehicle type. Overall, we employ these assumptions and utilize open-source data to create a library of instances with varying difficulty. Our approach is vital for evaluating and comparing algorithms designed to solve the RSRP-PdM.
23-21
The current cut selection algorithm used in mixed-integer programming solvers has remained largely unchanged since its creation. In this paper, we propose a set of new cut scoring measures, cut filtering techniques, and stopping criteria, extending the current state-of-the-art algorithm and obtaining a 5\% performance improvement for SCIP over the MIPLIB 2017 benchmark set.
23-19
Convergence Properties of Newton's Method for Globally Optimal Free Flight Trajectory Optimization
(2023)
The algorithmic efficiency of Newton-based methods for Free Flight Trajectory Optimization is heavily influenced by the size of the domain of convergence. We provide numerical evidence that the convergence radius is much larger in practice than what the theoretical worst case bounds suggest. The algorithm can be further improved by a convergence-enhancing domain decomposition.
23-16
The Periodic Event Scheduling Problem (PESP) is the central mathematical tool for periodic timetable optimization in public transport. PESP can be formulated in several ways as a mixed-integer linear program with typically general integer variables.
We investigate the split closure of these formulations and show that split inequalities are identical with the recently introduced flip inequalities. While split inequalities are a general mixed-integer programming technique, flip inequalities are defined in purely combinatorial terms, namely cycles and arc sets of the digraph underlying the PESP instance. It is known that flip inequalities can be separated in pseudo-polynomial time. We prove that this is best possible unless P $=$ NP, but also observe that the complexity becomes linear-time if the cycle defining the flip inequality is fixed.
Moreover, introducing mixed-integer-compatible maps, we compare the split closures of different formulations, and show that reformulation or binarization by subdivision do not lead to stronger split closures. Finally, we estimate computationally how much of the optimality gap of the instances of the benchmark library PESPlib can be closed exclusively by split cuts, and provide better dual bounds for five instances.
23-17
Cutting planes and branching are two of the most important algorithms for solving mixed-integer linear programs. For both algorithms, disjunctions play an important role, being used both as branching candidates and as the foundation for some cutting planes. We relate branching decisions and cutting planes to each other through the underlying disjunctions that they are based on, with a focus on Gomory mixed-integer cuts and their corresponding split disjunctions. We show that selecting branching decisions based on quality measures of Gomory mixed-integer cuts leads to relatively small branch-and-bound trees, and that the result improves when using cuts that more accurately represent the branching decisions. Finally, we show how the history of previously computed Gomory mixed-integer cuts can be used to improve the performance of the state-of-the-art hybrid branching rule of SCIP. Our results show a 4% decrease in solve time, and an 8% decrease in number of nodes over affected instances of MIPLIB 2017.
23-15
It has been shown that any 9 by 9 Sudoku puzzle must contain at least 17 clues to have a unique solution. This paper investigates the more specific question: given a particular completed Sudoku grid, what is the minimum number of clues in any puzzle whose unique solution is the given grid? We call this problem the Minimum Sudoku Clue Problem (MSCP). We formulate MSCP as a binary bilevel linear program, present a class of globally valid inequalities, and provide a computational study on 50 MSCP instances of 9 by 9 Sudoku grids. Using a general bilevel solver, we solve 95\% of instances to optimality, and show that the solution process benefits from the addition of a moderate amount of inequalities. Finally, we extend the proposed model to other combinatorial problems in which uniqueness of the solution is of interest.