Evolutionary, constructive and hybrid procedures for the bi-objective set packing problem.

International audienceThe bi-objective set packing problem is a multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem similar to the well-known set covering/partitioning problems. To our knowledge and surprise, this problem has not yet been studied whereas several applications have been reported. Unfortunately, solving the problem exactly in a reasonable time using a generic solver is only possible for small instances. We designed three alternative procedures for approximating solutions to this problem. The first is derived from the original ‘Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm', which is a population-based metaheuristic. The second is an adaptation of the ‘Greedy Randomized Adaptative Search Procedure', which is a constructive metaheuristic. As underlined in the overview of the literature summarized here, almost all the recent, effective procedures designed for approximating optimal solutions to multiobjective combinatorial optimization problems are based on a blend of techniques, called hybrid metaheuristics. Thus, the third alternative, which is the primary subject of this paper, is an original hybridization of the previous two metaheuristics. The algorithmic aspects, which differ from the original definition of these metaheuristics, are described, so that our results can be reproduced. The performance of our procedures is reported and the computational results for 120 numerical instances are discussed

An improved version of the augmented epsilon-constraint method (AUGMECON2) for finding the exact Pareto set in Multi-Objective Integer Programming problems

Generation (or a posteriori) methods in Multi-Objective Mathematical Programming (MOMP) is the most computationally demanding category among the MOMP approaches. Due to the dramatic increase in computational speed and the improvement of Mathematical Programming algorithms the generation methods become all the more attractive among today’s decision makers. In the current paper we present the generation method AUGMECON2 which is an improvement of our development, AUGMECON. Although AUGMECON2 is a general purpose method, we will demonstrate that AUGMECON2 is especially suitable for Multi-Objective Integer Programming (MOIP) problems. Specifically, AUGMECON2 is capable of producing the exact Pareto set in MOIP problems by appropriately tuning its running parameters. In this context, we compare the previous and the new version in a series of new and old benchmarks found in the literature. We also compare AUGMECON2’s performance in the generation of the exact Pareto sets with established methods and algorithms based on specific MOIP problems (knapsack, set packing) and on published results. Except from other Mathematical Programming methods, AUGMECON2 is found to be competitive also with Multi-Objective Meta-Heuristics (MOMH) in producing adequate approximations of the Pareto set in Multi-Objective Combinatorial Optimization (MOCO) problems

An improved version of the augmented epsilon-constraint method (AUGMECON2) for finding the exact Pareto set in Multi-Objective Integer Programming problems

Generation (or a posteriori) methods in Multi-Objective Mathematical Programming (MOMP) is the most computationally demanding category among the MOMP approaches. Due to the dramatic increase in computational speed and the improvement of Mathematical Programming algorithms the generation methods become all the more attractive among today’s decision makers. In the current paper we present the generation method AUGMECON2 which is an improvement of our development, AUGMECON. Although AUGMECON2 is a general purpose method, we will demonstrate that AUGMECON2 is especially suitable for Multi-Objective Integer Programming (MOIP) problems. Specifically, AUGMECON2 is capable of producing the exact Pareto set in MOIP problems by appropriately tuning its running parameters. In this context, we compare the previous and the new version in a series of new and old benchmarks found in the literature. We also compare AUGMECON2’s performance in the generation of the exact Pareto sets with established methods and algorithms based on specific MOIP problems (knapsack, set packing) and on published results. Except from other Mathematical Programming methods, AUGMECON2 is found to be competitive also with Multi-Objective Meta-Heuristics (MOMH) in producing adequate approximations of the Pareto set in Multi-Objective Combinatorial Optimization (MOCO) problems

Evolutionary, constructive and hybrid procedures for the bi-objective set packing problem

The bi-objective set packing problem is a multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem similar to the well-known set covering/partitioning problems. To our knowledge and surprise, this problem has not yet been studied whereas several applications have been reported. Unfortunately, solving the problem exactly in a reasonable time using a generic solver is only possible for small instances. We designed three alternative procedures for approximating solutions to this problem. The first is derived from the original 'Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm', which is a population-based metaheuristic. The second is an adaptation of the 'Greedy Randomized Adaptative Search Procedure', which is a constructive metaheuristic. As underlined in the overview of the literature summarized here, almost all the recent, effective procedures designed for approximating optimal solutions to multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems are based on a blend of techniques, called hybrid metaheuristics. Thus, the third alternative, which is the primary subject of this paper, is an original hybridization of the previous two metaheuristics. The algorithmic aspects, which differ from the original definition of these metaheuristics, are described, so that our results can be reproduced. The performance of our procedures is reported and the computational results for 120 numerical instances are discussed.Multiple objective programming Metaheuristics Set packing problem Hybrid method