Optimization for Simulation: LAD Accelerator

The goal of this paper is to address the problem of evaluating the performance of a system running under unknown values for its stochastic parameters. A new approach called LAD for Simulation, based on simulation and classification software, is presented. It uses a number of simulations with very few replications and records the mean value … Read more

Max-min separability: incremental approach and application to supervised data classification

A new algorithm for the computation of a piecewise linear function separating two finite point sets in $n$-dimensional space is developed and the algorithm is applied to solve supervised data classification problems. The algorithm computes hyperplanes incrementally and it finds as many hyperplanes as necessary to separate two sets with respect to some tolerance. An … Read more

Semidefinite Representation of Convex Sets

Let $S =\{x\in \re^n:\, g_1(x)\geq 0, \cdots, g_m(x)\geq 0\}$ be a semialgebraic set defined by multivariate polynomials $g_i(x)$. Assume $S$ is convex, compact and has nonempty interior. Let $S_i =\{x\in \re^n:\, g_i(x)\geq 0\}$, and $\bdS$ (resp. $\bdS_i$) be the boundary of $S$ (resp. $S_i$). This paper, as does the subject of semidefinite programming (SDP), concerns … Read more

Semidefinite Programming versus the Reformulation-Linearization Technique for Nonconvex Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming

We consider relaxations for nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) based on semidefinite programming (SDP) and the reformulation-linearization technique (RLT). From a theoretical standpoint we show that the addition of a semidefiniteness condition removes a substantial portion of the feasible region corresponding to product terms in the RLT relaxation. On test problems we show that … Read more

Jamming communication networks under complete uncertainty

This paper describes a problem of interdicting/jamming wireless communication networks in uncertain environments. Jamming communication networks is an important problem with many applications, but has received relatively little attention in the literature. Most of the work on network interdiction is focused on preventing jamming and analyzing network vulnerabilities. Here, we consider the case where there … Read more

Sufficient Conditions for a Real Polynomial to be a Sum of Squares

We provide explicit sufficient conditions for a polynomial $f$ to be a sum of squares (s.o.s.), linear in the coefficients of $f$. All conditions are simple and provide an explicit description of a convex polyhedral subcone of the cone of s.o.s. polynomials of degree at most $2d$. We also provide a simple condition to ensure … Read more

Computable representations for convex hulls of low-dimensional quadratic forms

Let C be the convex hull of points {(1;x)(1,x’)| x \in F\subset R^n}. Representing or approximating C is a fundamental problem for global optimization algorithms based on convex relaxations of products of variables. If n

Convex sets with semidefinite representation

We provide a sufficient condition on a class of compact basic semialgebraic sets K for their convex hull to have a lifted semidefinite representation (SDr). This lifted SDr is explicitly expressed in terms of the polynomials that define K. Examples are provided. For convex and compact basic semi-algebraic sets K defined by concave polynomials, we … Read more

Global minimization using an Augmented Lagrangian method with variable lower-level constraints

A novel global optimization method based on an Augmented Lagrangian framework is introduced for continuous constrained nonlinear optimization problems. At each outer iteration the method requires the $\varepsilon$-global minimization of the Augmented Lagrangian with simple constraints. Global convergence to an $\varepsilon$-global minimizer of the original problem is proved. The subproblems are solved using the $\alpha$BB … Read more

Solving systems of nonlinear equations with continuous GRASP

A method for finding all roots of a system of nonlinear equations is described. Our method makes use of C-GRASP, a recently proposed continuous global optimization heuristic. Given a nonlinear system, we solve a corresponding adaptively modified global optimization problem multiple times, each time using C-GRASP, with areas of repulsion around roots that have already … Read more