Shuffled frog leaping algorithm with non-dominated sorting for dynamic weapon-target assignment

The dynamic weapon target assignment(DWTA)problem is of great significance in modern air combat.However,DWTA is a highly complex constrained multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem.An improved elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II(NSGA-II)called the non-dominated shuffled frog leaping algorithm(NSFLA)is proposed to maximize damage to enemy targets and minimize the self-threat in air combat constraints.In NSFLA,the shuffled frog leaping algorithm(SFLA)is introduced to NSGA-II to replace the inside evolutionary scheme of the genetic algorithm(GA),displaying low optimization speed and heterogeneous space search defects.Two improvements have also been raised to promote the internal optimization performance of SFLA.Firstly,the local evolution scheme,a novel crossover mechanism,ensures that each individual participates in updating instead of only the worst ones,which can expand the diversity of the population.Secondly,a discrete adaptive mutation algorithm based on the function change rate is applied to balance the global and local search.Finally,the scheme is verified in various air combat scenarios.The results show that the proposed NSFLA has apparent advantages in solution quality and efficiency,especially in many aircraft and the dynamic air combat environment.

Colony location algorithm for assignment problems

A novel algorithm called Colony Location Algorithm (CLA) is proposed. It mimics the phenomena in biotic community that colonies of species could be located in the places most suitable to their growth. The factors working on the species location such as the nutrient of soil, resource competition between species, growth and decline process, and effect on environment were considered in CLA via the nutrient function, growth and decline rates, environment evaluation and fertilization strategy. CLA was applied to solve the classical assignment problems. The computation results show that CLA can achieve the optimal solution with higher possibility and shorter running time.

Improved Hungarian algorithm for assignment problems of serial-parallel systems

In order to overcome the shortcoming of the classical Hungarian algorithm that it can only solve the problems where the total cost is the sum of that of each job, an improved Hungarian algorithm is proposed and used to solve the assignment problem of serial-parallel systems. First of all, by replacing parallel jobs with virtual jobs, the proposed algorithm converts the serial-parallel system into a pure serial system, where the classical Hungarian algorithm can be used to generate a temporal assignment plan via optimization. Afterwards, the assignment plan is validated by checking whether the virtual jobs can be realized by real jobs through local searching. If the assignment plan is not valid, the converted system will be adapted by adjusting the parameters of virtual jobs, and then be optimized again. Through iterative searching, the valid optimal assignment plan can eventually be obtained.To evaluate the proposed algorithm, the valid optimal assignment plan is applied to labor allocation of a manufacturing system which is a typical serial-parallel system.

Competition assignment problem algorithm based on Hungarian method

Traditional Hungarian method can only solve standard assignment problems, while can not solve competition assignment problems. This article emphatically discussed the difference between standard assignment problems and competition assignment problems. The kinds of competition assignment problem algorithms based on Hungarian method and the solutions of them were studied.

Airport gate assignment problem with deep reinforcement learning

With the rapid development of air transportation in recent years,airport operations have attracted a lot of attention.Among them,airport gate assignment problem(AGAP)has become a research hotspot.However,the real-time AGAP algorithm is still an open issue.In this study,a deep reinforcement learning based AGAP(DRL-AGAP)is proposed.The optimization object is to maximize the rate of flights assigned to fixed gates.The real-time AGAP is modeled as a Markov decision process(MDP).The state space,action space,value and rewards have been defined.The DRL-AGAP algorithm is evaluated via simulation and it is compared with the flight pre-assignment results of the optimization software Gurobiand Greedy.Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed DRL-AGAP algorithm is close to that of pre-assignment obtained by the Gurobi optimization solver.Meanwhile,the real-time assignment ability is ensured by the proposed DRL-AGAP algorithm due to the dynamic modeling and lower complexity.

Integrating Tabu Search in Particle Swarm Optimization for the Frequency Assignment Problem

In this paper, we address one of the issues in the frequency assignment problem for cellular mobile networks in which we intend to minimize the interference levels when assigning frequencies from a limited frequency spectrum. In order to satisfy the increasing demand in such cellular mobile networks, we use a hybrid approach consisting of a Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO) combined with a Tabu Search(TS) algorithm. This approach takes both advantages of PSO efficiency in global optimization and TS in avoiding the premature convergence that would lead PSO to stagnate in a local minimum. Moreover, we propose a new efficient, simple, and inexpensive model for storing and evaluating solution's assignment. The purpose of this model reduces the solution's storage volume as well as the computations required to evaluate thesesolutions in comparison with the classical model. Our simulation results on the most known benchmarking instances prove the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm in comparison with previous related works in terms of convergence rate, the number of iterations, the solution storage volume and the running time required to converge to the optimal solution.

Solving the Unbalanced Assignment Problem: Simpler Is Better

Recently, Yadaiah and Haragopal published in the American Journal of Operations Research a new approach to solving the unbalanced assignment problem. They also provide a numerical example which they solve with their approach and get a cost of 1550 which they claim is optimum. This approach might be of interest;however, their approach does not guarantee the optimal solution. In this short paper, we will show that solving this same example from the Yadaiah and Haragopal paper by using a simple textbook formulation to balance the problem and then solve it with the classic Hungarian method of Kuhn yields the true optimal solution with a cost of 1520.

Troubleshooting algorithm for solving assignment problem and its applications

A new troubleshooting algorithm for solving assignment problem based on existing algorithms is proposed, and an analysis on the related theory is given. By applying the new troubleshooting algorithm to the Lagrange relaxation algorithm of the multi-dimensional assignment problem of data association for multi-passive-sensor multi-target location systems, and comparing the simulation results with that of the Hungarian algorithm which is the classical optimal solving algorithm, and the multi-layer ordersearching algorithm which is a sub-optimal solving algorithm, the performance and applying conditions of the new algorithm are summarized. Theory analysis and simulation results prove the effectiveness and superiority of the new algorithm.

Probabilistic Analysis and Multicriteria Decision for Machine Assignment Problem with General Service Times

In this paper we carried out a probabilistic analysis for a machine repair system with a general service-time distribution by means of generalized Markov renewal processes. Some formulas for the steady-state performance measures. such as the distribution of queue sizes, average queue length, degree of repairman utilization and so on. are then derived. Finally, the machine repair model and a multiple critcria decision-making method are applied to study machine assignment problem with a general service-time distribution to determine the optimum number of machines being serviced by one repairman.

Solution to the quadratic assignment problem usingsemi-Lagrangian relaxation

The semi-Lagrangian relaxation （SLR）, a new exactmethod for combinatorial optimization problems with equality constraints,is applied to the quadratic assignment problem （QAP）.A dual ascent algorithm with finite convergence is developed forsolving the semi-Lagrangian dual problem associated to the QAP.We perform computational experiments on 30 moderately difficultQAP instances by using the mixed integer programming solvers,Cplex, and SLR＋Cplex, respectively. The numerical results notonly further illustrate that the SLR and the developed dual ascentalgorithm can be used to solve the QAP reasonably, but also disclosean interesting fact： comparing with solving the unreducedproblem, the reduced oracle problem cannot be always effectivelysolved by using Cplex in terms of the CPU time.

Generative Neural Network Based Spectrum Sharing Using Linear Sum Assignment Problems

Spectrum management and resource allocation(RA)problems are challenging and critical in a vast number of research areas such as wireless communications and computer networks.The traditional approaches for solving such problems usually consume time and memory,especially for large-size problems.Recently different machine learning approaches have been considered as potential promising techniques for combinatorial optimization problems,especially the generative model of the deep neural networks.In this work,we propose a resource allocation deep autoencoder network,as one of the promising generative models,for enabling spectrum sharing in underlay device-to-device(D2D)communication by solving linear sum assignment problems(LSAPs).Specifically,we investigate the performance of three different architectures for the conditional variational autoencoders(CVAE).The three proposed architecture are the convolutional neural network(CVAECNN)autoencoder,the feed-forward neural network(CVAE-FNN)autoencoder,and the hybrid(H-CVAE)autoencoder.The simulation results show that the proposed approach could be used as a replacement of the conventional RA techniques,such as the Hungarian algorithm,due to its ability to find solutions of LASPs of different sizes with high accuracy and very fast execution time.Moreover,the simulation results reveal that the accuracy of the proposed hybrid autoencoder architecture outperforms the other proposed architectures and the state-of-the-art DNN techniques.

Components Assignment Problem for Multi-Source Multi-Sink Flow Networks with Reliability and Budget Constraints

System reliability optimization problem of multi-source multi-sink flow network is defined by searching the optimal components that maximize the reliability and minimize the total assignment cost. Therefore, a genetic-based approach is proposed to solve the components assignment problem under budget constraint. The mathematical model of the optimization problem is presented and solved by the proposed genetic-based approach. The proposed approach is based on determining the optimal set of lower boundary points that maximize the system reliability such that the total assignment cost does not exceed the specified budget. Finally, to evaluate our approach, we applied it to various network examples with different numbers of available components;two-source two-sink network and three-source two-sink network.

Proposed Heuristic Method for Solving Assignment Problems

Assignment of jobs to workers, contract to contractors undergoing a bidding process, assigning nurses to duty post, or time tabling for teachers in school and many more have become a growing concern to both management and sector leaders alike. Hungarian algorithm has been the most successful tool for solving such problems. The authors have proposed a heuristic method for solving assignment problems with less computing time in comparison with Hungarian algorithm that gives comparable results with an added advantage of easy implementation. The proposed heuristic method is used to compute some bench mark problems.

A New Approach of Solving Single Objective Unbalanced Assignment Problem

In this paper, we discuss a new approach for solving an unbalanced assignment problem. A Lexi-search algorithm is used to assign all the jobs to machines optimally. The results of new approach are compared with existing approaches, and this approach outperforms other methods. Finally, numerical example (Table 1) has been given to show the efficiency of the proposed methodology.

Dynamic Weapon Target Assignment Based on Intuitionistic Fuzzy Entropy of Discrete Particle Swarm

Aiming at the problems of convergence-slow and convergence-free of Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm(DPSO) in solving large scale or complicated discrete problem, this article proposes Intuitionistic Fuzzy Entropy of Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization(IFDPSO) and makes it applied to Dynamic Weapon Target Assignment(WTA). First, the strategy of choosing intuitionistic fuzzy parameters of particle swarm is defined, making intuitionistic fuzzy entropy as a basic parameter for measure and velocity mutation. Second, through analyzing the defects of DPSO, an adjusting parameter for balancing two cognition, velocity mutation mechanism and position mutation strategy are designed, and then two sets of improved and derivative algorithms for IFDPSO are put forward, which ensures the IFDPSO possibly search as much as possible sub-optimal positions and its neighborhood and the algorithm ability of searching global optimal value in solving large scale 0-1 knapsack problem is intensified. Third, focusing on the problem of WTA, some parameters including dynamic parameter for shifting firepower and constraints are designed to solve the problems of weapon target assignment. In addition, WTA Optimization Model with time and resource constraints is finally set up, which also intensifies the algorithm ability of searching global and local best value in the solution of WTA problem. Finally, the superiority of IFDPSO is proved by several simulation experiments. Particularly, IFDPSO, IFDPSO1~IFDPSO3 are respectively effective in solving large scale, medium scale or strict constraint problems such as 0-1 knapsack problem and WTA problem.

Behaviours in a dynamical model of traffic assignment with elastic demand

This paper investigates the dynamical behaviour of network traffic flow. Assume that trip rates may be influenced by the level of service on the network and travellers are willing to take a faster route. A discrete dynamical model for the day-to-day adjustment process of route choice is presented. The model is then applied to a simple network for analysing the day-to-day behaviours of network flow. It finds that equilibrium is arrived if network flow consists of travellers not very sensitive to the differences of travel cost. Oscillations and chaos of network traffic flow are also found when travellers are sensitive to the travel cost and travel demand in a simple network.

Distributed Frequency Assignment Using Hierarchical Cooperative Multi-Agent System

Recent demand for wireless communication continues to grow rapidly as a result of the increasing number of users, the emergence of new user requirements, and the trend to new access technologies. At the same time, the electromagnetic spectrum or frequencies allocated for this purpose are still limited. This makes solving the frequency assignment problem more and more critical. In this paper, a new approach is proposed using self-organizing multi-agent systems to solve distributed dynamic channel-assignment;it concerns distribution among agents which task is to assign personal station to frequencies with respect to well known constraints. Agents only know their variables and the constraints affecting them, and have to negotiate to find a collective solution. The approach is based on a macro-level management taking the form of a hierarchical group of distributed agents in the network and handling all RANs (Regional Radio Access Network) in a localized region regardless of the operating band. The approach defines cooperative self-organization as the process leading the collective to the solution: agents can change the organization by their own decision to improve the state of the system. Our approach has been tested on PHEADEPHIA benchmarks of frequency assignment Problem. The results obtained are equivalent to those of current existing methods with the benefits that our approach shows more efficiency in terms of flexibility and autonomy.

Weekly Fleet Assignment Model and Algorithm

A 0-1 integer programming model for weekly fleet assignment was put forward based on linear network and weekly flight scheduling in China. In this model, the objective function is to maximize the total profit of fleet assignment, subject to the constraints of coverage, aircraft flow balance, fleet size, aircraft availability, aircraft usage, flight restriction, aircraft seat capacity, and stopover. Then the branch-and-bound algorithm based on special ordered set was applied to solve the model. At last, a real- wofld case study on an airline with 5 fleets, 48 aircrafts and 1 786 flight legs indicated that the profit increase was ￥ 1 591276 one week and the running time was no more than 4 rain, which shows that the model and algorithm are fairly good for domestic airline.