一个基于动态代理次序的分布式约束求解算法

最近分布式约束满足问题逐渐成为人工智能领域一个新的研究热点,它的提出将约束满足问题的应用范围扩展到复杂的分布式环境.并发搜索是求解分布式约束满足问题的一个高效算法.文中改进了并发搜索中的变量选择策略,将动态代理次序应用到其中,同时提出了一个适合于分布式条件下的基于动态代理次序的并发搜索算法.多组随机生成问题实验结果显示加入动态代理次序的并发回溯搜索在求解效率和通信量方面都表现出优异的性能.     

协同设计中定量化约束求解方法

通过对约束满足与约束冲突的分析，提出了约束求解的定量化策略．基于变量不确定性，量化了约束满足程度与约束冲突程度，解决了约束求解过程中的优先权问题；给出了约束变化量及关联函数，为约束求解确立了具体的目标和实施方法，实现了约束求解过程的有序搜索．定量化约束求解策略不仅实现了对约束的有序及有效求解，而且真正地实现了在上游约束求解过程中定量地考虑下游约束求解问题．最后，利用随机仿真技术实现了基于变量不确定性的约束求解策略的验证．     

最先失败原则的约束传播算法

约束满足问题是人工智能研究领域的重要问题.而弧相容算法是求解约束满足问题的重要工具.在弧相容算法中应用启发式规则已经证明是一种很有效的方式.本文提出一个基于最先失败原则的约束传播算法,该算法在搜索过程中更早地发现含有空域的变量并提前进行回溯,从而提高问题求解效率.同时,在"明月1.0"架构下实现了该算法,实验结果表明使用最先失败原则的弧相容算法要比原来的算法效率上提高了约40%.     

多元约束混合搜索算法研究

解空间搜索是约束求解的关键环节. 目前较为常用的搜索算法一般是基于二元约束或单一搜索策略设计的. 本文设计了六个基于多元约束的混合搜索算法(BM_GASBJ, BM_GBJ, BM_CBJ, FC_GASBJ, FC_GBJ, FC_CBJ), 它们分别混合同一类搜索策略中不同算法或不同类搜索策略; 分析并给出了不同混合算法的性能差异. 系统测试结果表明混合搜索算法明显提高了解搜索效率和约束求解系统的性能.     

一种基于图分割的动态回溯算法

动态回溯算法在进行回溯时保留所有已赋值变量的值,从而可能与后面赋值的变量产生冲突,其在解决不具有明显子问题结构的约束满足问题时效率较低。为此,将图分割技术应用于动态回溯,通过图分割将变量分为若干集合,当发生回溯时,不保留全部变量的值,舍弃那些与引起冲突的变量在同一集合变量中的值。实验结果表明,该算法在求解没有明显子问题结构的约束满足问题时具有较高的效率。     

二元约束满足问题求解的结点开销模型

提出了在二元约束满足问题中以搜索结点个数为衡量标准的求解开销模型,该模型被应用于随机二元约束满足问题的求解开销相变分析中,并且比较了模型所导出的理论开销和实际中的搜索结点个数、约束检查次数、求解时间3种衡量标准的开销之间的相似性.在模型的基础上，探讨了求解启发式减少求解开销的作用，给出了一个新的变量选择启发式.     

约束满足混合算法求解并行机Job-Shop调度问题

分析并行机Job-Shop调度问题的特点并建立其约束满足优化模型,结合约束满足与变邻域搜索技术设计了一个求解该问题的混合优化算法。该算法采用变量排序方法和值排序方法选择变量并赋值,利用回溯和约束传播消解资源冲突,生成初始可行调度,然后应用局部搜索技术增强收敛性,并通过结合问题特点设计的邻域结构的多样性提高求解质量。数据实验表明,提出的算法与其他两种算法相比,具有一定的可行性和有效性。     

采用二元CSP引擎求解RTL数据通路的可满足性

针对寄存器传输级(RTL)验证和测试过程中非常重要的数据通路可满足性求解问题,提出一种基于二元约束满足问题(CSP)的求解方法,包括数据通路提取、二元CSP建模和搜索求解3个步骤.数据通路提取通过对接口布尔变量和某些字变量赋值,为各个数据通路器件建立环境;二元CSP建模则根据该环境和各个数据通路器件的功能,将数据通路的可满足性问题转化为二元CSP描述;该二元CSP问题的描述被送入到二元CSP引擎,并采用冲突引导的回跳搜索策略进行求解,获得有解的例证或无解的判定.实验结果表明,即使在没有采取很多优化策略的条件下,该方法仍有较好的性能,并优于基于线性规划(LP)的求解方法.     

约束满足问题中一致性算法的分析与研究

约束满足问题是人工智能领域的重要研究方向,其求解方法有三种,搜索、一致性算法和约束传播,其中一致性算法通常通过缩减问题域来提高搜索算法的效率.着重介绍了几种常用的一致性算法,并对几种常用算法进行了分析、比较和研究.     

基于GENET的时间表问题自动求解算法

构造大学考试时间表自动生成系统是一个知名的问题．本文用约束满足问题模型来描述大学考试时间表问题,并提出了一个基于GENET的局部搜索算法来解该问题．该算法采用一些问题相关的策略来提高局部搜索效率．实验结果表明,将“强约束违反”转化为“弱约束违反”的方法能大大地提高算法性能,使该算法优于GENET和演化算法。     

Nogood-FC for solving partitionable constraint satisfaction problems

Many real problems can be naturally modelled as constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). However, some of these problems are of a distributed nature, which requires problems of this kind to be modelled as distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DCSPs). In this work, we present a distributed model for solving CSPs. Our technique carries out a partition over the constraint network using a graph partitioning software; after partitioning, each sub-CSP is arranged into a DFS-tree CSP structure that is used as a hierarchy of communication by our distributed algorithm. We show that our distributed algorithm outperforms well-known centralized algorithms solving partitionable CSPs.     

基于对称破坏的子图同构约束求解算法

为避免子图同构问题求解中重复解的产生,提高子图同构问题的约束求解效率,提出一种基于对称破坏的子图同构约束求解算法。基于解的对称破坏思想,改进自同构检测过程,通过置换群操作生成对称破坏字典序约束,构建子图同构问题的一种约束满足问题(CSP)模型,结合CSP的回溯算法对其求解。实验结果表明,该算法有效减少了对重复解的搜索,与传统算法相比明显提高了搜索效率。     

Solving constraint satisfaction problems using hybrid evolutionarysearch

We combine the concept of evolutionary search with the systematic search concepts of arc revision and hill climbing to form a hybrid system that quickly finds solutions to static and dynamic constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). Furthermore, we present the results of two experiments. In the first experiment, we show that our evolutionary hybrid outperforms a well-known hill climber, the iterative descent method (IDM), on a test suite of 750 randomly generated static CSPs. These results show the existence of a “mushy region” which contains a phase transition between CSPs that are based on constraint networks that have one or more solutions and those based on networks that have no solution. In the second experiment, we use a test suite of 250 additional randomly generated CSPs to compare two approaches for solving CSPs. In the first method, all the constraints of a CSP are known by the hybrid at run-time. We refer to this method as the static method for solving CSPs. In the second method, only half of the constraints of a CSPs are known at run-time. Each time that our hybrid system discovers a solution that satisfies all of the constraints of the current network, one additional constraint is added. This process of incrementally adding constraints is continued until all the constraints of a CSP are known by the algorithm or until the maximum number of individuals has been created. We refer to this second method as the dynamic method for solving CSPs. Our results show hybrid evolutionary search performs exceptionally well in the presence of dynamic (incremental) constraints, then also illuminate a potential hazard with solving dynamic CSPs     

Lexicographically-ordered constraint satisfaction problems

We describe a simple CSP formalism for handling multi-attribute preference problems with hard constraints, one that combines hard constraints and preferences so the two are easily distinguished conceptually and for purposes of problem solving. Preferences are represented as a lexicographic order over complete assignments based on variable importance and rankings of values in each domain. Feasibility constraints are treated in the usual manner. Since the preference representation is ordinal in character, these problems can be solved with algorithms that do not require evaluations to be represented explicitly. This includes ordinary CSP algorithms, although these cannot stop searching until all solutions have been checked, with the important exception of heuristics that follow the preference order (lexical variable and value ordering). We describe relations between lexicographic CSPs and more general soft constraint formalisms and show how a full lexicographic ordering can be expressed in the latter. We discuss relations with (T)CP-nets, highlighting the advantages of the present formulation, and we discuss the use of lexicographic ordering in multiobjective optimisation. We also consider strengths and limitations of this form of representation with respect to expressiveness and usability. We then show how the simple structure of lexicographic CSPs can support specialised algorithms: a branch and bound algorithm with an implicit cost function, and an iterative algorithm that obtains optimal values for successive variables in the importance ordering, both of which can be combined with appropriate variable ordering heuristics to improve performance. We show experimentally that with these procedures a variety of problems can be solved efficiently, including some for which the basic lexically ordered search is infeasible in practice.     

The distributed constraint satisfaction problem: formalization andalgorithms

We develop a formalism called a distributed constraint satisfaction problem (distributed CSP) and algorithms for solving distributed CSPs. A distributed CSP is a constraint satisfaction problem in which variables and constraints are distributed among multiple agents. Various application problems in distributed artificial intelligence can be formalized as distributed CSPs. We present our newly developed technique called asynchronous backtracking that allows agents to act asynchronously and concurrently without any global control, while guaranteeing the completeness of the algorithm. Furthermore, we describe how the asynchronous backtracking algorithm can be modified into a more efficient algorithm called an asynchronous weak-commitment search, which can revise a bad decision without exhaustive search by changing the priority order of agents dynamically. The experimental results on various example problems show that the asynchronous weak-commitment search algorithm is, by far more, efficient than the asynchronous backtracking algorithm and can solve fairly large-scale problems     

Dynamic Flexible Constraint Satisfaction

Existing techniques for solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) are largely concerned with a static set of imperative, inflexible constraints. Recently, work has addressed these shortcomings of classical constraint satisfaction in the form of two separate extensions known as flexible and dynamic CSP. Little, however, has been done to combine these two approaches in order to bring to bear the benefits of both in solving more complex problems. This paper presents a new integrated algorithm, Flexible Local Changes, for dynamic flexible problems. It is further shown how the use of flexible consistency-enforcing techniques can improve solution re-use and hence the efficiency of the core algorithm. Empirical evidence is provided to support the success of the present approach.     

基于多起点和Mask策略的深度强化学习算法求解覆盖旅行商问题

覆盖旅行商问题(covering salesman problem, CSP)是旅行商问题的变体,在防灾规划、急救管理中有着广泛应用.由于传统方法求解问题实例耗时严重,近年来深度神经网络被提出用于解决该类组合优化问题,在求解速度和泛化性上有明显的优势.现有基于深度神经网络求解CSP的方法求解质量较低,特别在大规模实例上与传统的启发式方法相比存在较大差距.针对上述问题,提出一种新的基于深度强化学习求解CSP的方法,由编码器对输入特征进行编码,提出新的Mask策略对解码器使用自注意力机制构造解的过程进行约束,并提出多起点策略改善训练过程、提高求解质量.实验结果表明,所提方法对比现有基于深度神经网络的求解方法进一步缩小了最优间隙,同时有着更高的样本效率,在不同规模和不同覆盖类型的CSP中展现出更强的泛化能力,与启发式算法相比在求解速度上有10～40倍的提升.     

A new evolutionary approach to cutting stock problems with and without contiguity

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been applied to many optimization problems successfully in recent years. The genetic algorithm (GAs) and evolutionary programming (EP) are two different types of EAs. GAs use crossover as the primary search operator and mutation as a background operator, while EP uses mutation as the primary search operator and does not employ any crossover. This paper proposes a novel EP algorithm for cutting stock problems with and without contiguity. Two new mutation operators are proposed. Experimental studies have been carried out to examine the effectiveness of the EP algorithm. They show that EP can provide a simple yet more effective alternative to GAs in solving cutting stock problems with and without contiguity. The solutions found by EP are significantly better (in most cases) than or comparable to those found by GAs.Scope and purposeThe one-dimensional cutting stock problem (CSP) is one of the classical combinatorial optimization problems. While most previous work only considered minimizing trim loss, this paper considers CSPs with two objectives. One is the minimization of trim loss (i.e., wastage). The other is the minimization of the number of stocks with wastage, or the number of partially finished items (pattern sequencing or contiguity problem). Although some traditional OR techniques (e.g., programming based approaches) can find the global optimum for small CSPs, they are impractical to find the exact global optimum for large problems due to combinatorial explosion. Heuristic techniques (such as various hill-climbing algorithms) need to be used for large CSPs. One of the heuristic algorithms which have been applied to CSPs recently with success is the genetic algorithm (GA). This paper proposes a much simpler evolutionary algorithm than the GA, based on evolutionary programming (EP). The EP algorithm has been shown to perform significantly better than the GA for most benchmark problems we used and to be comparable to the GA for other problems.     

A graph-based immune-inspired constraint satisfaction search

We propose an artificial immune algorithm to solve constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). Recently, bio-inspired algorithms have been proposed to solve CSPs. They have shown to be efficient in solving hard problem instances. Given that recent publications indicate that immune-inspired algorithms offer advantages to solve complex problems, our main goal is to propose an efficient immune algorithm which can solve CSPs. We have calibrated our algorithm using relevance estimation and value calibration (REVAC), which is a new technique recently introduced to find the parameter values for evolutionary algorithms. The tests were carried out using randomly generated binary constraint satisfaction problems and instances of the three-colouring problem with different constraint networks. The results suggest that the technique may be successfully applied to solve CSPs.     

基于混合预测策略与改进社会学习优化算法的动态多目标优化方法

近年来,国内外学者针对基于预测的动态多目标优化算法开展了深入研究,并提出了一系列有效的算法,然而已有的研究工作通常采用单一的预测策略,使得算法不能有效地应对剧烈的环境变化。针对上述问题,提出了一种基于混合预测策略与改进社会学习优化算法的动态多目标优化方法。具体地,当环境发生变化时,该方法首先基于代表性个体预测策略生成一部分群体;其次,基于拐点预测策略生成一部分新群体,特别地,为了提高种群的多样性,根据算法迭代的历史信息和环境变化情况随机地生成一定数量的新个体;为了提高问题的求解效率,对社会学习优化算法进行了改进,为每个进化空间设计了适用于动态多目标优化问题的算子;最后,将混合预测策略与改进的社会学习优化算法结合,构成了一种新的动态多目标优化方法。以FDA、DMOP和F函数集作为实验测试函数集,与四种代表性算法进行了性能对比;并以反向世代距离(inverted generational distance, IGD)对该方法的性能进行了深入的分析。实验结果表明所提方法具有较好的收敛性和鲁棒性。