Binary Integer Programming Problem Research Articles

A two-phase method for compaction path planning and control of the impact roller

Compaction efficiency and quality are extraordinarily significant for branch-line airport construction engineering. However, a human-determined compaction path is generally adopted during the compaction, negatively impacting compaction efficiency and quality. A two-phase approach to the compaction path is proposed to address the problem. The first phase focuses on the establishment of a model to optimize the impact roller’s complete-coverage compaction path (CCCP) to improve compaction efficiency. In this phase, the optimization problem of the CCCP is equivalent to the traveling salesman problem (TSP). Next, the optimization of the CCCP is formulated and solved as a binary integer programming problem. Finally, a method for determining the optimal traversal compaction sequence is proposed to obtain the optimal CCCP based on the secondary development of the Gurobi optimizer. In the second phase, to guarantee the compaction quality, the path navigation modulus is designed to precisely control the compaction path. Combining the compaction path planning with the path control, an integrated system is developed to provide a better service for practical earthwork compaction engineering in airport construction. The results of the simulation experiment and field experiment indicate that the CCCP determined by the proposed optimization method in the first phase can improve the compaction efficiency compared to the human-determined compaction path. In addition, the developed system can effectively generate the CCCP. Meanwhile, the developed system can provide a visual path navigation and precise path control during the compaction to ensure the compaction quality, verifying that the proposed method can offer a novel idea for compaction path control.

Profit Maximization for Cache-Enabled Vehicular Mobile Edge Computing Networks

In this paper, we investigate a multiuser cache-enabled vehicular mobile edge computing (MEC) network, where one edge server (ES) has some caching and computing capabilities to assist the task computing from the vehicular users. The introduce of caching into the MEC network significantly affects the system performance such as the latency, energy consumption and profit at the ES, which imposes a critical challenge on the system design and optimization. To solve this challenge, we firstly design the vehicular MEC network in a non-competitive environment by maximizing the profit of the ES with a predetermined threshold of user QoE, and jointly exploit the caching and computing resources in the network. We then model the optimization problem into a binary integer programming problem, and adopt the cross entropy (CE) method to obtain the effective offloading and caching decision with a low complexity. Simulation results are finally presented to verify that the proposed scheme can achieve the near optimal performance of the conventional branch and bound (BnB) scheme, while sharply reduce the computational complexity compared to the BnB.

Integrated mathematical optimisation approach for the tower crane hook routing problem to satisfy material demand requests on-site

Optimising decisions around the location and operation of tower cranes can improve the workflow in construction projects. Traditionally, the location and allocation problems involved in tower crane operations in the literature have been solved separately from the assignment of material supply points to demand points and the scheduling of the crane’s activity sequence across supply and demand points on a construction site. To address the gap, this paper proposes a binary integer programming problem, where location of the tower crane, allocation of supply points to material-demanding regions, and routing of hook of the crane based on activity sequencing of the hook across supply and material-demanding regions on site are optimised. The novelty in this work is in the way the crane’s activity scheduling is modelled via mathematical programming, based on routing the hook movement to meet material demand, through minimising tower crane operating costs. A realistic case study is solved to assess the validity of the model. The model is contrasted with results obtained from other solving algorithms commonly adopted in the literature, along with a solution proposed by an experienced practitioner. Results indicate that all instances can be solved when compared to other meta-heuristics that fail to achieve an optimum solution. Compared to the solution proposed by the practitioner, the results of the proposed model achieve a 46% improvement in objective function value. Planners should optimise decisions related to the location of the crane, the crane’s hook movement to meet service requests, and supply points’ locations and assignment to material-demanding regions simultaneously for effective crane operations.

Fix-and-optimize metaheuristics for minmax regret binary integer programming problems under interval uncertainty

The Binary Integer Programming problem (BIP) is a mathematical optimization problem, with linear objective function and constraints, on which the domain of all variables is {0, 1}. In BIP, every variable is associated with a determined cost coefficient. The Minmax regret Binary Integer Programming problem under interval uncertainty (M-BIP) is a generalization of BIP in which the cost coefficient associated to the variables is not known in advance, but are assumed to be bounded by an interval. The objective of M-BIP is to find a solution that possesses the minimum maximum regret among all possible solutions for the problem. In this paper, we show that the decision version of M-BIP is Σp2-complete. Furthermore, we tackle M-BIP by both exact and heuristic algorithms. We extend three exact algorithms from the literature to M-BIP and propose two fix-and-optimize heuristic algorithms. Computational experiments, performed on the Minmax regret Weighted Set Covering problem under Interval Uncertainties (M-WSCP) as a test case, indicates that one of the exact algorithms outperforms the others. Furthermore, it shows that the proposed fix-and-optimize heuristics, that can be easily employed to solve any minmax regret optimization problem under interval uncertainty, are competitive with ad-hoc algorithms for the M-WSCP.

An OCPP-Based Approach for Electric Vehicle Charging Management

This paper proposes a smart system for managing the operations of grid-connected charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) that use photovoltaic (PV) sources. This system consists of a mobile application for EV drivers to make charging reservations, an algorithm to optimize the charging schedule, and a remote execution module of charging operations based on the open charge point protocol (OCPP). The optimal charging schedule was obtained by solving a binary integer programming problem. The merits of our solution are illustrated by simulating different charging demand scenarios.

Priority‐based resource allocation in wireless powered UAV‐assisted networks

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be deployed to combine terrestrial and aerial networks to provide flexible connectivity to a large number of devices in three-dimensional (3D) space. Powering wireless devices through energy harvesting and wireless power transfer have been investigated to provide uninterrupted operations. Resource allocation is critical to improving the overall performance of the network. This paper focusses on a downlink network in which UAVs serve as base stations to provide connectivity to ground users. A priority-based charging of UAVs from the ground charging stations needs to be efficiently designed for the sustainable operation of the overall network. A binary linear integer programming (BLIP) problem is formulated to minimise the charging cost and maximise the number of UAVs that can be charged by charging stations. First, the BLIP is transformed into a quadratic programming problem to solve it in polynomial time. A sequential quadratic programming algorithm is developed to solve the optimisation problem. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed work compared to existing solutions.

Integer programming for selecting set of informative markers in paternity inference

BackgroundParentage information is fundamental to various life sciences. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have made it possible to accurately infer parentage even in non-model species. The optimization of sets of genome-wide markers is valuable for cost-effective applications but requires extremely large amounts of computation, which presses for the development of new efficient algorithms.ResultsHere, for a closed half-sib population, we generalized the process of marker loci selection as a binary integer programming problem. The proposed systematic formulation considered marker localization and the family structure of the potential parental population, resulting in an accurate assignment with a small set of markers. We also proposed an efficient heuristic approach, which effectively improved the number of markers, localization, and tolerance to missing data of the set. Applying this method to the actual genotypes of apple (Malus × domestica) germplasm, we identified a set of 34 SNP markers that distinguished 300 potential parents crossed to a particular cultivar with a greater than 99% accuracy.ConclusionsWe present a novel approach for selecting informative markers based on binary integer programming. Since the data generated by high-throughput sequencing technology far exceeds the requirement for parentage assignment, a combination of the systematic marker selection with targeted SNP genotyping, such as KASP, allows flexibly enlarging the analysis up to a scale that has been unrealistic in various species. The method developed in this study can be directly applied to unsolved large-scale problems in breeding, reproduction, and ecological research, and is expected to lead to novel knowledge in various biological fields. The implementation is available at https://github.com/SoNishiyama/IP-SIMPAT.

Transmit or Backscatter: Communication Mode Selection for Narrowband IoT Systems

Backscatter communication is an energy-efficient communication technique for the Internet of things (IoT) devices. It enables data transmission by reflecting the incident radio signals. In this paper, we propose a communication mode selection scheme for IoT devices that can communicate using either active transmission or backscattering. In the active transmission mode, the IoT devices can transmit data over narrowband subcarriers using power-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). In the backscattering mode, which operates over shorter distance than active transmission, nearby user equipment (UE) devices are used as relays. The UEs receive the backscattered signals from the IoT devices and forward them to the base station. We formulate a connection density maximization problem to select the communication mode used by each IoT device. We determine the IoT device pairing for active transmission mode with NOMA and UE-IoT device association for backscattering mode. The formulated problem is a binary integer programming problem. Although it can be solved optimally, the optimal algorithm incurs exponential computational complexity. Hence, we propose a low-complexity suboptimal algorithm to solve this problem. Results show that our proposed algorithm can enhance the connection density of narrowband IoT systems by up to 64% when compared with using single communication mode.

An Iterated Dual Substitution Approach for Binary Integer Programming Problems Under the Min-Max Regret Criterion

We consider binary integer programming problems with the min-max regret objective function under interval objective coefficients. We propose a heuristic framework, the iterated dual substitution (iDS) algorithm, which iteratively invokes a dual substitution heuristic and excludes from the search space any solution already checked in previous iterations. In iDS, we use a best scenario–based lemma to improve performance. We apply iDS to four typical combinatorial optimization problems: the knapsack problem, the multidimensional knapsack problem, the generalized assignment problem, and the set covering problem. For the multidimensional knapsack problem, we compare the iDS approach with two algorithms widely used for problems with the min-max regret criterion: a fixed-scenario approach, and a branch-and-cut approach. The results of computational experiments on a broad set of benchmark instances show that the proposed iDS approach performs best on most tested instances. For the knapsack problem, the generalized assignment problem, and the set covering problem, we compare iDS with state-of-the-art results. The iDS algorithm successfully updates best-known records for a number of benchmark instances. Summary of Contribution: This paper proposes a heuristic framework for binary integer programming (BIP) problems with the min-max regret objective function under interval objective coefficients. We selected four representative NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems: the knapsack problem, the multidimensional knapsack problem, the set covering problem, and the generalized assignment problem. We show the effectiveness and efficiency of the approach by comparing with state-of-the-art results.

Exponential extrapolation memory for tabu search

Tabu search is a well-established metaheuristic framework for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. At its core, the method uses different forms of memory to guide a local search through the solution space so as to identify high-quality local optima while avoiding getting stuck in the vicinity of any particular local optimum. This paper examines characteristics of moves that can be exploited to make good decisions about steps that lead away from recently visited local optima and towards a new local optimum. Our approach uses a new type of adaptive memory based on a construction called exponential extrapolation. The memory operates by means of threshold inequalities that ensure selected moves will not lead to a specified number of most recently encountered local optima. Computational experiments on a set of one hundred different benchmark instances for the binary integer programming problem suggest that exponential extrapolation is a useful type of memory to incorporate into a tabu search. • Examining a new type of adaptive memory for tabu search. • The memory is used to avoid certain moves in non-improving iterations. • Tested on binary integer programming problems. • Leads to improved results for two different tabu search implementations.

Variable neighbourhood search for binary integer programming problems

Variable neighbourhood search for binary integer programming problems

Variable neighbourhood search for binary integer programming problems

Variable neighbourhood search for binary integer programming problems

Task Selection and Scheduling in UAV-Enabled MEC for Reconnaissance With Time-Varying Priorities

In this article, we study the problem of task selection and scheduling in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled multiaccess edge computing for reconnaissance (ASSUMER). Specifically, taking into account the time-varying priorities of reconnaissance tasks, we investigate how to maximize the overall reconnaissance utility by selecting an appropriate set of tasks and scheduling their execution sequence in the multiaccess edge computing server of the UAV. The ASSUMER problem is a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, which includes both integer and continuous variables and is proved to be NP-hard. To address this challenging problem, we first model the task scheduling subproblem as a single machine scheduling problem with the deterioration effect. We find out that the optimal task scheduling can be solved efficiently given any task selection variables and propose an optimal scheduling algorithm. Second, using the proposed scheduling algorithm, the ASSUMER problem is equivalent to a binary integer programming problem with respect to the task selection variable only. We prove that the objective function falls into the category of the submodular function and transform the original problem into the problem of maximizing submodular function with the energy constraint. Third, combining the proposed scheduling algorithm with submodularity, we design an effective approximation algorithm for the ASSUMER problem and prove that the algorithm has <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(1 - {e^{ - 1}})/2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> bicriterion approximation guarantee. Finally, simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the overall reconnaissance utility and energy efficiency compared to five benchmark algorithms.

A survey on the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm variants for binary, integer and mixed integer programming problems

Most of the optimization problems encountered in the real world are discrete type which involves decision variables defined in the discrete search space. Binary optimization problems, integer and mixed integer programming problems are of this category, and they require suitable solution representation and search operators to be solved by nature-inspired algorithms. One of the widely-used and well-known nature-inspired algorithms is Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) that has been originally proposed to solve the problems in the continuous domain, and hence, its standard version employs the search operators to exploit the information of the solution vectors encoded in the continuous domain. To be able to cope with the discrete problems, particularly binary, integer and mixed integer programming problems, which are also a group of numeric optimization problems, various encoding types, search operators and selection operators have been integrated into ABC. In this paper, we review the studies proposing new ABC variants to solve discrete numeric optimization problems. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first comprehensive survey study on this topic. Therefore, we hope that this study would be beneficial to the readers interested in the use of ABC for the binary, integer and mixed integer discrete optimization problems.

Mitigating Conflicting Transactions in Hyperledger Fabric-Permissioned Blockchain for Delay-Sensitive IoT Applications

Blockchain is a promising emerging technology that is envisioned to play a key role in establishing secure and reliable Internet-of-Things (IoT) ecosystems without the involvement of any third party. Hyperledger Fabric, a permissioned blockchain system that can yield high throughput and low consensus delay, has shown its capability in enhancing security and privacy protection for delay-sensitive IoT services. The literature, however, has not considered the conflicting transaction problem which may substantially limit the system performance and degrade QoS for the end users. In this article, we propose CATP-Fabric, a new blockchain system to address the conflicting transaction problem by reducing the number of potentially conflicting transactions with less overhead. First, the transactions within a block are divided into different groups to facilitate parallel transaction processing. Then, CATP-Fabric filters stale transactions and prioritizes the read-only transactions in each group to eliminate unnecessary overhead. Finally, we formulate the selection of aborting transactions in CATP-Fabric as a binary integer-programming problem and develop a low-complexity optimization algorithm to minimize the number of aborted transactions. Illustrative results show that our proposed CATP-Fabric blockchain system achieves high throughput of successful transactions while maintaining a lower aborting transaction rate compared to the benchmark blockchain systems.

The RaPID-Ω system: Room and proctor intelligent decider for large scale tests programming

We present the documentation and mathematical modeling of the open-box system RaPID/?. The software is designed for the choice of classrooms and the assignment of proctoring duties in massive tests, which is a common situation in educational institutions offering large coordinated lower division courses. The mathematical model is a binary integer programming problem: a combination of the 0-1 knapsack problem and the job-assignment problem. The system makes decisions according to the following criteria in order of priority: minimization of labor-hours, maximization of equity in the distribution of duties and maximization of the proctoring quality.

TOTAL: Optimal Protection Strategy Against Perfect and Imperfect False Data Injection Attacks on Power Grid Cyber–Physical Systems

This article explores the problem of protection against false data injection attacks (FDIAs) on the power system state estimation. Although many research works have been reported previously to solve the same problem, yet most of them are only for perfect FDIAs. To address the problem reasonably, all related factors influencing the success probability and corresponding attack impact of imperfect FDIAs should also be considered. Based on such considerations, a topology, parameter, accuracy, level (TOTAL) protection strategy considering all corresponding factors is proposed. The TOTAL protection strategy minimizes the attack impact of typical imperfect FDIAs (single measurement attacks) while defending against typical perfect FDIAs (single-state variable attacks). Depending on whether the protection scheme contains phasor measurement units (PMUs), we formulate the meter selection as a linear binary programming or integer programming problem, which can be solved by suitable solvers. The proposed strategy is compared with the existing methods in the literature and evaluated using the standard IEEE test cases.

Nurse to patient assignment through an analogy with the bin packing problem: Case of a Tunisian hospital

We describe the nurse to patient assignment problem that supports the operational decisions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Hedi Chaker Hospital. It implies efficiently assigning patients to nurses in their suitable unit of work, taking into consideration during assignment a set of patients having a given acuity to a set of nurses having certain capacities. A binary linear integer programming problem is formulated where each patient can be treated by an only one nurse. Due to the combinatorial complexity of the problem, a heuristic approach is developed to achieve the procedure of assignment. The Max–Max assignment heuristic is based on the development of four mathematical propositions that serve for insuring the problem size reduction. The resolution of the problem via the heuristic method has shown its pertinence for exact resolution using real instances extracted from the unit. For our real case the heuristic provided flexible modelling and gave a feasible and a good nurse to patient assignment for every shift and in each zone of assignment.

Quantum solutions for densest k-subgraph problems

In this paper, we present, for the first time, quantum annealing solutions for densest k-subgraph problems which have many applications in computational biology. Our solutions are formulated as solutions for quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) and integer programming problems, proved to be equivalent with the densest k-subgraph problems and then tested on an D-Wave 2X machine. The QUBO formulations are optimal in terms of the number of logical qubits, but require the highest number of physical qubits after embedding. Experimental work reported here suggests that the D-Wave 2X model cannot handle problems of this difficulty. The next generation of D-wave hardware architecture—the Pegasus architecture—is much denser than the current one, so dense QUBOs will be easier to embed. The experimental work also suggests that the current built-in post-processing optimization method does not work very well for some problems and the default setting (post-processing optimization on) should be avoided (or at least tested before being turned on).

Adaptive Coordination of Damping Controllers for Enhanced Power System Stability

This paper introduces the concept of adaptive coordination of damping controllers for enhancing power system stability. The coordination uses phasor measurement units (PMUs) to adapt to different disturbances by selecting the switching status (on/off) of damping controllers that minimizes an energy-based dynamic performance measure. This dynamic performance measure, referred to as total action (TA), uses a physical interpretation of excited modes rather than fixed targeted modes as in the traditional damping control design. The coordination is formulated as a binary integer programming problem, which is solved by using the total action sensitivity (TAS). The concept of oscillation energy and the implementation of the adaptive coordination scheme is tested in the western North America power system (wNAPS). The results show that the proposed adaptive control scheme can improve oscillation damping for different short-circuit locations even in the presence of large communication delays.