A Nonlinear Mixed Integer Programming Method to Find the Reliable Shortest Path in a Stochastic Network

Genetic algorithm for non-linear mixed integer programming problems and its applications

In the past years, the issues of energy efficiency and interference are becoming increasingly serious in wireless local area network (WLAN) since lots of access points (AP) are deployed densely to provide high-speed users access. However, current works focus on solving the two issues separately and the influence of each other is rarely considered. To address these problems, we propose a joint optimization scheme of energy efficiency and interference to reduce energy consumption and interference together without sacrificing users’ traffic demands. Firstly, based on energy consumption measurement of AP and network interference analysis, we establish energy efficiency and interference models respectively. Then, the weighting method is introduced to build the joint optimization to quantify the effects of user-AP association, AP switch, AP transmit power and AP channel on energy consumption and interference. Lastly, we formulate the joint optimization as an Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) problem. Since the MINLP problem is NP-hard, we proposed an Joint Optimization of Energy Efficiency and Interference (JOEI) algorithm based on greedy method to simplify its computational complexity. The evaluation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the network energy consumption while improve the capacity of WLANs.

This paper proposes an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) based algorithm for the real-time operation of the microgrid under uncertainties. First, the optimal operation of the microgrid is formulated as a stochastic mixedinteger nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, combining the ac power flow and the detailed operational character of the battery. For this NP-hard problem, the proposed ADP based energy management algorithm decomposes the original multitime periods MINLP problem into single-time period nonlinear programming problems. Thus, the sequential decisions can be made by solving Bellman's equation. Historical data is utilized offline to improve the optimality of the real-time decision, and the dependency on the forecast information is reduced. Comparative numerical simulations with several existing methods demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

Drone cell (DC) is an emerging technique to offer flexible and cost-effective\nwireless connections to collect Internet-of-things (IoT) data in uncovered\nareas of terrestrial networks. The flying trajectory of DC significantly\nimpacts the data collection performance. However, designing the trajectory is a\nchallenging issue due to the complicated 3D mobility of DC, unique DC-to-ground\n(D2G) channel features, limited DC-to-BS (D2B) backhaul link quality, etc. In\nthis paper, we propose a 3D DC trajectory design for the DC-assisted IoT data\ncollection where multiple DCs periodically fly over IoT devices and relay the\nIoT data to the base stations (BSs). The trajectory design is formulated as a\nmixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem to minimize the average\nuser-to-DC (U2D) pathloss, considering the state-of-the-art practical D2G\nchannel model. We decouple the MINLP problem into multiple quasi-convex or\ninteger linear programming (ILP) sub-problems, which optimizes the user\nassociation, user scheduling, horizontal trajectories and DC flying altitudes\nof DCs, respectively. Then, a 3D multi-DC trajectory design algorithm is\ndeveloped to solve the MINLP problem, in which the sub-problems are optimized\niteratively through the block coordinate descent (BCD) method. Compared with\nthe static DC deployment, the proposed trajectory design can lower the average\nU2D pathloss by 10-15 dB, and reduce the standard deviation of U2D pathloss by\n56%, which indicates the improvements in both link quality and user fairness.\n

Resource allocation for device-to-device (D2D) communications is usually formulated as mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems, which are generally NP-hard and difficult to solve. Traditional methods are based on mathematical optimization techniques, which suffer from forbidding computational complexity or unsatisfactory optimality. In this paper, we introduce a machine leaning (ML) technique, imitation learning, to address the resource allocation in D2D communications. The key idea is learning a good prune policy to speed up the widely-used globally optimal algorithm for the MINLP problems, the branch- and-bound (B&B) algorithm. With appropriate feature selection, imitation learning can be converted into a binary classification problem, which can be solved by the classical support vector machine (SVM). Extensive simulation demonstrates that the proposed method can achieve good optimality and reduce computational complexity simultaneously. It only needs hundreds of training samples and has a good generalization ability. Our proposed method can be also applied to the MINLP problems in other wireless communication networks.

The sustainability of water resources is one of the major concerns of the world. Industries are finding ways to minimize water costs and to reduce water pollution through efficient use of supplies. One of effective solutions is the use of water pinch technology or process integration techniques. Property integration emerged as the third trend of process integration technique (aside from energy and mass integration) to solve the problem of water network synthesis by considering physical stream properties such as pH or resistivity. Various techniques have been done to solve this property-based problem. In this paper, mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problems with topological constraints is studied. Nowadays, various evolutionary algorithms are also used to solve such MINLP problems. In this study, particle swarm optimization is used to solve the property integration problem. A comparison is made between this algorithm and commercial genetic algorithm (GA) applications. Particle swarm optimization is observed to perform favorably compared to GA.

Federated learning (FL) over wireless networks has become a key enabler for privacy-preserving distributed artificial intelligence (AI). However, high learning latency remains a critical bottleneck due to the presence of stragglers, limited wireless resources, and frequent model uploads. While model quantization can mitigate this issue by reducing communication overhead, its effectiveness is sensitive to device heterogeneity and time-varying channel conditions. To address this issue, we propose <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">FedDamQu</i>, a communication-efficient FL framework with doubly-adaptive model quantization, which dynamically adjusts quantization bit-widths across devices and communication rounds to balance latency and accuracy. Our objective is to maximize the model performance under learning latency constraints. The main contributions are summarized as follows. 1) Convergence Analysis under Unreliable Channels: We derive a novel convergence error upper bound for <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">FedDamQu</i>, which explicitly quantifies the impact of device selection, unreliable transmission, and quantization error on the global model performance, under both fixed and dynamic quantization gain settings. 2) Joint Optimization Framework: Based on the knowledge from the proposed theoretical bound, we formulate a joint mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem that integrates device selection, quantization bit-width configuration, and bandwidth allocation to minimize the convergence error under latency constraints. 3) Efficient Solution Design: The MINLP problem is decomposed into three subproblems, where closed-form solutions for quantization bit-width configuration and bandwidth allocation subproblems are derived, and a lightweight yet effective iterative algorithm is developed to obtain a suboptimal solution for the device selection subproblem. Extensive experiment results validate the theoretical analysis and demonstrate that <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">FedDamQu</i> consistently outperforms existing methods in terms of convergence rate and model accuracy, while significantly reducing the overall learning latency.

Various wireless manufacturing sensors facilitate the monitoring and control process in industrial internet of things (IIoT) systems. Control and image data generated by control and vision-based monitoring systems are transmitted over shared wireless network to edge computing devices for further decisions. Due to limited spectrum resources and sensor transmit power, it is challenging to design efficient quality of service (QoS) aware transmission mechanism for heterogeneous data with diverse real-time and system performance requirements. In this paper, in order to guarantee control system performance and image clarity, the time slot allocation and transmission power for heterogeneous sensors are jointly optimized by formulating a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. The MINLP problem is decomposed into multiple subproblems which are proved to have strong duality and can be solved in dual domain. Then, according to acknowledge (ACK) signals, we propose a priority-aware heuristic algorithm to solve each subproblem. Finally, the simulation results prove that our proposed mechanism can reduce the number of slots and energy consumption for transmission while guaranteeing performance requirements of heterogeneous data.

This paper presents a strategy for the solution of nonlinear programming (NLP) and mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems, based on the coupling of the equation-oriented simulator ASCEND IV with the stochastic optimizers MSGA and MSIMPSA. Both NLP and MINLP formulations of a reactive distillation example were explored. The results show that the connection between the two software blocks was successfully established. Despite the highly nonlinear behavior of the proposed example, the results presented generally agree with those previously obtained for the same case study using other approaches, namely, SIMOP, which is a FORTRAN 77-based NLP simulation tool developed for optimization problems. Increasing the column dimension or switching the vapor−liquid equilibrium (VLE) description to a nonideal situation, which produces nonlinear models with a much larger number of equations that must be solved simultaneously, show that the results deteriorate. This is attributed to the lack of user control over the subsystems’ structures (viz, tearing variables). This problem was partially circumvented through the application of a more elaborate scheme initialization for the column variables.

An optimal control approach to nonlinear mixed integer programming problems

In this paper, we present a multi-objective fractional probabilistic programming problem where the parameters in the objective functions and right-hand side constraints are multi-choice in nature. Multi-choice multi-objective objective fractional probabilistic programming problem is formulated. The multi-choice parameters in the right-hand side of constraints are random variables following Cauchy distribution. Multi-choice multi-objective fractional probabilistic programming problem is transformed to deterministic equivalent multi-choice multi-objective fractional programming problem using chance-constrained programming problem. Lagrange interpolating polynomial approach is proposed to deal with multi-choice parameters. The multi-choice multi-objective fractional programming problem is transformed to non-linear mixed integer multi-objective programming problem. An \(\epsilon -\) constrained method is applied to find the compromise solutions of non-linear mixed integer multi-objective programming problem using different values of \(\epsilon \). LINGO software is applied to find the optimal solution of single objective non-linear mixed integer programming problem. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed programming problem.KeywordsMulti-choice programming problemMulti-objective programming problemProbabilistic programming problemFractional programming problem\(\epsilon \)-constraint method

Mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems are known to be challenging due to the involvement of nonlinear mathematical relations and combinatorial complexities. In this paper, an interval form-based Bernstein global optimization algorithm is presented to solve polynomial MINLP problems. The major contribution of this paper is a new box selection criterion for this interval form-based Bernstein global optimization algorithm. This new box selection criterion promotes fast convergence of the Bernstein algorithm. Moreover, the new box selection criterion allows the construction of a hybrid branch-and-bound framework for the Bernstein algorithm, wherein a local search method is used to obtain a good upper bound on the global minimum, and the Bernstein form is employed to obtain a valid lower bound on the global minimum. We show with numerical results that it is possible to obtain a significant reduction in the number of subdivisions required with this new box selection criterion. Furthermore, the Bernstein algorithm with this new box selection criterion is evaluated numerically on a variety of small- to medium-size MINLP problem instances and its performance is compared with the previously reported Bernstein global optimization algorithm as well as with a few state-of-the-art MINLP solvers. The results of the numerical studies demonstrate satisfactory performance in terms of the chosen performance metrics. Finally, the trim-loss minimization problem from the paper industry is solved to demonstrate the practical applicability of the Bernstein algorithm.

Globally convergent exact and inexact parametric algorithms for solving large-scale mixed-integer fractional programs and applications in process systems engineering

The location-allocation problem of manifolds, which is a part of subsea field layout optimization, directly affects the flowline cost. This problem has always been studied as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, or an integer linear programming (ILP) problem when there are location options for the facilities. Making a MINLP model is surely convenient to interpret the optimization problem. However, finding the global optimum of the MINLP model is very hard. Hence, practically, engineers use approximation algorithms to search a good local optimum or give several good location options based on their experience and knowledge to reduce the MINLP model into an ILP model. Nevertheless, the global optimum of the original MINLP model is no longer guaranteed. In this study, enlightened by the graphic theories, we propose a new method in which we reduce the MINLP model into an ILP model---more precisely, a binary linear programming (BLP) model---without compromise of achieving global optimum, but also with extremely high efficiency. The breakthrough in both efficiency and accuracy of our method for the location-allocation problem of manifolds and wellheads is well demonstrated in various cases with comparison to the published methods and the commercial MINLP solver from LINDO. Besides, we also provide our results for larger-scale problems which were considered infeasible for the commercial MINLP solver. More generally, our method can be regarded as a specific MINLP/NIP (nonlinear integer programming) solver which can be used for many other applications. This work is the second of a series of papers which systematically introduce an efficient method for subsea field layout optimization to minimize the development cost.

In this paper, we consider an optimization problem solving for model predictive control (MPC) of a modular multilevel converter (MMC). An MMC consists of a large number of submodules. The objective of the MPC is to determine the best switching sequences for the submodules in the MMC to track the phase current references for T time horizons. The MPC is formulated as a nonlinear mixed-integer programming (MIP) problem with the on/off status of submodules as binary decision variables and MMC dynamic states such as phase currents, circulating currents and submodule capacitor voltages as continuous decision variables. With a large number of submodules and a large number of time horizons, the dimension of the nonlinear MIP problem becomes difficult to handle. Our contribution is to formulate this problem and solve this problem using Bender's decomposition. An example 5-level single-phase MMC is demonstrated for the proposed algorithm.