Some combinational optimization problems on radio network communication and machine scheduling

The combinatorial optimization problems coming from two areas are studied in this dissertation: network communication and machine scheduling. In the network communication area, the complexity of distributed broadcasting and distributed gossiping is studied in the setting of random networks. Two different models are considered: one is random geometric networks, the main model used to study properties of sensor and ad-hoc networks, where ri points are randomly placed in a unit square and two points are connected by an edge if they are at most a certain fixed distance r from each other. The other model is the so-called line-of-sight networks, a new network model introduced recently by Frieze et al. (SODA\u2707). The nodes in this model are randomly placed (with probability p) on an n x n grid and a node can communicate with all the nodes that are in at most a certain fixed distance r and which are in the same row or column. It can be shown that in many scenarios of both models, the random structure of these networks makes it possible to perform distributed gossiping in asymptotically optimal time 0(D), where D is the diameter of the network. The simulation results show that most algorithms especially the randomized algorithm works very fast in practice. In the scheduling area, the first problem is online scheduling a set of equal processing time tasks with precedence constraints so as to minimize the makespan. It can be shown that Hu \u27s algorithm yields an asymptotic competitive ratio of 3/2 for intree precedence constraints and an asymptotic competitive ratio of 1 for outtree precedences, and Coffinan-Graham algorithm yields an asymptotic competitive ratio of 1 for arbitrary precedence constraints and two machines.The second scheduling problem is the integrated production and delivery scheduling with disjoint windows. In this problem, each job is associated with a time window, and a profit. A job must be finished within its time window to get the profit. The objective is to pick a set ofjobs and schedule them to get the maximum total profit. For a single machine and unit profit, an optimal algorithm is proposed. For a single machine and arbitrary profit, a fully polynomial time approximation scheme(FPTAS) is proposed. These algorithms can be extended to multiple machines with approximation ratio less than e/(e - 1). The third scheduling problem studied in this dissertation is the preemptive scheduling algorithms with nested and inclusive processing set restrictions. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. It can be shown that there is no optimal online algorithm even for the case of inclusive processing set. Then a linear time optimal algorithm is given for the case of nested processing set, where all jobs are available for processing at time t = 0. A more complicated algorithm with running time 0(n log ri) is given that produces not only optimal but also maximal schedules. When jobs have different release times, an optimal algorithm is given for the nested case and a faster optimal algorithm is given for the inclusive processing set case

Design and Analysis of an Estimation of Distribution Approximation Algorithm for Single Machine Scheduling in Uncertain Environments

In the current work we introduce a novel estimation of distribution algorithm to tackle a hard combinatorial optimization problem, namely the single-machine scheduling problem, with uncertain delivery times. The majority of the existing research coping with optimization problems in uncertain environment aims at finding a single sufficiently robust solution so that random noise and unpredictable circumstances would have the least possible detrimental effect on the quality of the solution. The measures of robustness are usually based on various kinds of empirically designed averaging techniques. In contrast to the previous work, our algorithm aims at finding a collection of robust schedules that allow for a more informative decision making. The notion of robustness is measured quantitatively in terms of the classical mathematical notion of a norm on a vector space. We provide a theoretical insight into the relationship between the properties of the probability distribution over the uncertain delivery times and the robustness quality of the schedules produced by the algorithm after a polynomial runtime in terms of approximation ratios

Single-machine scheduling with stepwise tardiness costs and release times

We study a scheduling problem that belongs to the yard operations component of the railroad planning problems, namely the hump sequencing problem. The scheduling problem is characterized as a single-machine problem with stepwise tardiness cost objectives. This is a new scheduling criterion which is also relevant in the context of traditional machine scheduling problems. We produce complexity results that characterize some cases of the problem as pseudo-polynomially solvable. For the difficult-to-solve cases of the problem, we develop mathematical programming formulations, and propose heuristic algorithms. We test the formulations and heuristic algorithms on randomly generated single-machine scheduling problems and real-life datasets for the hump sequencing problem. Our experiments show promising results for both sets of problems

Order acceptance and scheduling in a single-machine environment: exact and heuristic algorithms.

In this paper, we develop exact and heuristic algorithms for the order acceptance and scheduling problem in a single-machine environment. We consider the case where a pool consisting of firm planned orders as well as potential orders is available from which an over-demanded company can select. The capacity available for processing the accepted orders is limited and orders are characterized by known processing times, delivery dates, revenues and the weight representing a penalty per unit-time delay beyond the delivery date promised to the customer. We prove the non-approximability of the problem and give two linear formulations that we solve with CPLEX. We devise two exact branch-and-bound procedures able to solve problem instances of practical dimensions. For the solution of large instances, we propose six heuristics. We provide a comparison and comments on the efficiency and quality of the results obtained using both the exact and heuristic algorithms, including the solution of the linear formulations using CPLEX.Order acceptance; Scheduling; Single machine; Branch-and-bound; Heuristics; Firm planned orders;

Asymptotically Optimal Approximation Algorithms for Coflow Scheduling

Many modern datacenter applications involve large-scale computations composed of multiple data flows that need to be completed over a shared set of distributed resources. Such a computation completes when all of its flows complete. A useful abstraction for modeling such scenarios is a {\em coflow}, which is a collection of flows (e.g., tasks, packets, data transmissions) that all share the same performance goal. In this paper, we present the first approximation algorithms for scheduling coflows over general network topologies with the objective of minimizing total weighted completion time. We consider two different models for coflows based on the nature of individual flows: circuits, and packets. We design constant-factor polynomial-time approximation algorithms for scheduling packet-based coflows with or without given flow paths, and circuit-based coflows with given flow paths. Furthermore, we give an $O(\log n/\log \log n)$-approximation polynomial time algorithm for scheduling circuit-based coflows where flow paths are not given (here $n$ is the number of network edges). We obtain our results by developing a general framework for coflow schedules, based on interval-indexed linear programs, which may extend to other coflow models and objective functions and may also yield improved approximation bounds for specific network scenarios. We also present an experimental evaluation of our approach for circuit-based coflows that show a performance improvement of at least 22% on average over competing heuristics.Comment: Fixed minor typo

Parallel machine scheduling with release dates, due dates and family setup times

In manufacturing, there is a fundamental conflict between efficient production and delivery performance. Maximizing machine utilization by batching similar jobs may lead to poor delivery performance. Minimizing customers' dissatisfaction may lead to an inefficient use of the machines. In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling n independent jobs with release dates, due dates, and family setup times on m parallel machines. The objective is to minimize the maximum lateness of any job. We present a branch-and-bound algorithm to solve this problem. This algorithm exploits the fact that an optimal schedule is contained in a specific subset of all feasible schedules. For lower bounding purposes, we see setup times as setup jobs with release dates, due dates and processing times. We present two lower bounds for the problem with setup jobs, one of which proceeds by allowing preemption