Full-low evaluation methods for bound and linearly constrained derivative-free optimization

Derivative-free optimization (DFO) consists in finding the best value of an objective function without relying on derivatives. To tackle such problems, one may build approximate derivatives, using for instance finite-difference estimates. One may also design algorithmic strategies that perform space exploration and seek improvement over the current point. The first type of strategy often provides … Read more

Heuristic methods for noisy derivative-free bound-constrained mixed-integer optimization

This paper discusses MATRS, a new matrix adaptation trust region strategy for solving noisy derivative-free mixed-integer optimization problems with simple bounds.  MATRS repeatedly cycles through five phases, mutation, selection, recombination, trust-region, and mixed-integer in this order. But if in the mutation phase a new best point (point with lowest inexact function value among all evaluated … Read more

An active set method for bound-constrained optimization

In this paper, a class of algorithms is developed for bound-constrained optimization. The new scheme uses the gradient-free line search along bent search paths. Unlike traditional algorithms for bound-constrained optimization, our algorithm ensures that the reduced gradient becomes arbitrarily small. It is also proved that all strongly active variables are found and fixed after finitely … Read more

On Exact and Inexact RLT and SDP-RLT Relaxations of Quadratic Programs with Box Constraints

Quadratic programs with box constraints involve minimizing a possibly nonconvex quadratic function subject to lower and upper bounds on each variable. This is a well-known NP-hard problem that frequently arises in various applications. We focus on two convex relaxations, namely the RLT (Reformulation-Linearization Technique) relaxation and the SDP-RLT relaxation obtained by adding semidefinite constraints to … Read more

Efficient composite heuristics for integer bound constrained noisy optimization

This paper discusses a composite algorithm for bound constrained noisy derivative-free optimization problems with integer variables. This algorithm is an integer variant of the matrix adaptation evolution strategy. An integer derivative-free line search strategy along affine scaling matrix directions is used to generate candidate points. Each affine scaling matrix direction is a product of the … Read more

Exploiting Prior Function Evaluations in Derivative-Free Optimization

A derivative-free optimization (DFO) algorithm is presented. The distinguishing feature of the algorithm is that it allows for the use of function values that have been made available through prior runs of a DFO algorithm for solving prior related optimization problems. Applications in which sequences of related optimization problems are solved such that the proposed … Read more

Using an Analytical Computational-Geometry Library to Model Nonoverlap and Boundary-Distance Constraints and their Application to Packing Poly-Bézier Shapes

In this paper we will show how to model nonoverlap as well as uniform and nonuniform boundary-distance constraints between poly-Bézier shapes using an analytical computational-geometry library. We then use this capability to develop, implement and analyze analytical-optimization solutions to minimum-area rectangular-boundary packing-problems as well as minimum-area one- and two-dimensional puzzle-piece packing-problems. In the process, we … Read more

OPM, a collection of Optimization Problems in Matlab

OPM is a small collection of CUTEst unconstrained and bound-constrained nonlinear optimization problems, which can be used in Matlab for testing optimization algorithms directly (i.e. without installing additional software). Article Download View OPM, a collection of Optimization Problems in Matlab

Simple odd beta-cycle inequalities for binary polynomial optimization

We consider the multilinear polytope which arises naturally in binary polynomial optimization. Del Pia and Di Gregorio introduced the class of odd beta-cycle inequalities valid for this polytope, showed that these generally have Chvátal rank 2 with respect to the standard relaxation and that, together with flower inequalities, they yield a perfect formulation for cycle … Read more

Parallel Strategies for Direct Multisearch

Direct Multisearch (DMS) is a Derivative-free Optimization class of algorithms suited for computing approximations to the complete Pareto front of a given Multiobjective Optimization problem. It has a well-supported convergence analysis and simple implementations present a good numerical performance, both in academic test sets and in real applications. Recently, this numerical performance was improved with … Read more