Characterization of an Anomalous Behavior of a Practical Smoothing Technique

A practical smoothing method was analyzed and tested against state-of-the-art solvers for some non-smooth optimization problems in [BSS20a; BSS20b]. This method can be used to smooth the value functions and solution mappings of fully parameterized convex problems under mild conditions. In general, the smoothing of the value function lies from above the true value function … Read more

Mixed Integer Bilevel Optimization with k-optimal Follower: A Hierarchy of Bounds

We consider mixed integer bilevel linear optimization problems in which the decision variables of the lower-level (follower’s) problem are all binary. We propose a general modeling and solution framework motivated by the practical reality that in a Stackelberg game, the follower does not always solve their optimization problem to optimality. They may instead implement a … Read more

Inexact Derivative-Free Optimization for Bilevel Learning

Variational regularization techniques are dominant in the field of mathematical imaging. A drawback of these techniques is that they are dependent on a number of parameters which have to be set by the user. A by now common strategy to resolve this issue is to learn these parameters from data. While mathematically appealing this strategy … Read more

Closing the Gap in Linear Bilevel Optimization: A New Valid Primal-Dual Inequality

Linear bilevel optimization problems are often tackled by replacing the linear lower-level problem with its Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions. The resulting single-level problem can be solved in a branch-and-bound fashion by branching on the complementarity constraints of the lower-level problem’s optimality conditions. While in mixed-integer single-level optimization branch- and-cut has proven to be a powerful extension … Read more

Decomposition Algorithms for Some Deterministic and Two-Stage Stochastic Single-Leader Multi-Follower Games

We consider a certain class of hierarchical decision problems that can be viewed as single-leader multi-follower games, and be represented by a virtual market coordinator trying to set a price system for traded goods, according to some criterion that balances supply and demand. The objective function of the market coordinator involves the decisions of many … Read more

Modular-topology optimization with Wang tilings: An application to truss structures

Modularity is appealing for solving many problems in optimization. It brings the benefits of manufacturability and reconfigurability to structural optimization, and enables a trade-off between the computational performance of a Periodic Unit Cell (PUC) and the efficacy of non-uniform designs in multi-scale material optimization. Here, we introduce a novel strategy for concurrent minimum-compliance design of … Read more

Optimal Residential Users Coordination Via Demand Response: An Exact Distributed Framework

This paper proposes a two-phase optimization framework for users that are involved in demand response (DR) programs. In a first phase, responsive users optimize their own household consumption, characterizing not only their appliances and equipments but also their comfort preferences. Subsequently, the aggregator exploits in a second phase this preliminary non-coordinated solution by implementing a … Read more

Optimal Residential Coordination Via Demand Response: A Distributed Framework

This paper proposes an optimization framework for retailers that are involved in demand response (DR) programs. In a first phase responsive users optimize their own household consumption, characterizing not only their appliances and equipment but also their comfort preferences. Then, the retailer exploits in a second phase this preliminary non-coordinated solution to implement a strategy … Read more

Outer Approximation for Global Optimization of Mixed-Integer Quadratic Bilevel Problems

Bilevel optimization problems have received a lot of attention in the last years and decades. Besides numerous theoretical developments there also evolved novel solution algorithms for mixed-integer linear bilevel problems and the most recent algorithms use branch-and-cut techniques from mixed-integer programming that are especially tailored for the bilevel context. In this paper, we consider MIQP-QP … Read more

Optimal time-and-level-of-use price setting for an energy retailer

This paper presents a novel price setting optimization problem for an energy retailer in the smart grid. In this framework the retailer buys energy from multiple generators via bilateral contracts, and sells it to a population of smart homes using Time-and-Level-of-Use prices (TLOU). TLOU is an energy price structure recently introduced in the literature, where … Read more