Exact and Heuristic Approaches for Directional Sensor Control

Directional sensors are gaining importance due to applications, in- cluding surveillance, detection, and tracking. Such sensors have a limited fi eld-of-view and a discrete set of directions they can be pointed to. The Directional Sensor Control problem (DSCP) consists in assigning a direction of view to each sensor. The location of the targets is known with … Read more

Finitely Convergent Decomposition Algorithms for Two-Stage Stochastic Pure Integer Programs

We study a class of two-stage stochastic integer programs with general integer variables in both stages and finitely many realizations of the uncertain parameters. Based on Benders’ method, we propose a decomposition algorithm that utilizes Gomory cuts in both stages. The Gomory cuts for the second-stage scenario subproblems are parameterized by the first-stage decision variables, … Read more

Nonsmooth Optimization Using Uncontrolled Inexact Information

We consider convex nonsmooth optimization problems whose objective function is known through a (fine) oracle together with some additional (cheap but poor) information – formalized as a second coarse oracle with uncontrolled inexactness. It is the case when the objective function is itself the output of an optimization solver, using a branch-and-bound procedure, or decomposing … Read more

Importance Sampling in Stochastic Programming: A Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach

Stochastic programming models are large-scale optimization problems that are used to facilitate decision-making under uncertainty. Optimization algorithms for such problems need to evaluate the expected future costs of current decisions, often referred to as the recourse function. In practice, this calculation is computationally difficult as it requires the evaluation of a multidimensional integral whose integrand … Read more

On the convergence of decomposition methods for multi-stage stochastic convex programs

We prove the almost-sure convergence of a class of sampling-based nested decomposition algorithms for multistage stochastic convex programs in which the stage costs are general convex functions of the decisions, and uncertainty is modelled by a scenario tree. As special cases, our results imply the almost-sure convergence of SDDP, CUPPS and DOASA when applied to … Read more

On the hop-constrained survivable network design problem with reliable edges

In this paper, we study the hop-constrained survivable network design problem with reliable edges. Given a graph with non-negative edge weights and node pairs Q, the hop-constrained survivable network design problem consists of constructing a minimum weight set of edges so that the induced subgraph contains at least K edge-disjoint paths containing at most L … Read more

Decomposition Algorithms with Parametric Gomory Cuts for Two-Stage Stochastic Integer Programs

We consider a class of two-stage stochastic integer programs with binary variables in the first stage and general integer variables in the second stage. We develop decomposition algorithms akin to the L-shaped or Benders methods by utilizing Gomory cuts to obtain iteratively tighter approximations of the second-stage integer programs. We show that the proposed methodology … Read more

The recoverable robust tail assignment problem

Schedule disruptions are commonplace in the airline industry with many flight-delaying events occurring each day. Recently there has been a focus on introducing robustness into airline planning stages to reduce the effect of these disruptions. We propose a recoverable robustness technique as an alternative to robust optimisation to reduce the effect of disruptions and the … Read more

Stochastic Optimization for Power System Configuration with Renewable Energy in Remote Areas

This paper presents the first stochastic mixed integer programming model for a comprehensive hybrid power system design, including renewable energy generation, storage device, transmission network, and thermal generators, in remote areas. Given the computational complexity of the model, we developed a Benders’ decomposition algorithm with Pareto-optimal cuts. Computational results show significant improvement in our ability … Read more

An LPCC Approach to Nonconvex Quadratic Programs

Filling a gap in nonconvex quadratic programming, this paper shows that the global resolution of a feasible quadratic program (QP), which is not known a priori to be bounded or unbounded below, can be accomplished in finite time by solving a linear program with linear complementarity constraints, i.e., an LPCC. Alternatively, this task can be … Read more