Asymmetry in the Complexity of the Multi-Commodity Network Pricing Problem

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bui, Quang Minh, Carvalho, Margarida, Neto, José
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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_version_ 1866916109446283264
author Bui, Quang Minh
Carvalho, Margarida
Neto, José
author_facet Bui, Quang Minh
Carvalho, Margarida
Neto, José
contents The network pricing problem (NPP) is a bilevel problem, where the leader optimizes its revenue by deciding on the prices of certain arcs in a graph, while expecting the followers (also known as the commodities) to choose a shortest path based on those prices. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of the NPP with respect to two parameters: the number of tolled arcs, and the number of commodities. We devise a simple algorithm showing that if the number of tolled arcs is fixed, then the problem can be solved in polynomial time with respect to the number of commodities. In contrast, even if there is only one commodity, once the number of tolled arcs is not fixed, the problem becomes NP-hard. We characterize this asymmetry in the complexity with a novel property named strong bilevel feasibility. Finally, we describe an algorithm to generate valid inequalities to the NPP based on this property, accommodated with numerical results to demonstrate its effectiveness in solving the NPP with a high number of commodities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2212_10673
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Asymmetry in the Complexity of the Multi-Commodity Network Pricing Problem
Bui, Quang Minh
Carvalho, Margarida
Neto, José
Optimization and Control
90C46, 90C25, 90C35
G.1.6; G.2.2
The network pricing problem (NPP) is a bilevel problem, where the leader optimizes its revenue by deciding on the prices of certain arcs in a graph, while expecting the followers (also known as the commodities) to choose a shortest path based on those prices. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of the NPP with respect to two parameters: the number of tolled arcs, and the number of commodities. We devise a simple algorithm showing that if the number of tolled arcs is fixed, then the problem can be solved in polynomial time with respect to the number of commodities. In contrast, even if there is only one commodity, once the number of tolled arcs is not fixed, the problem becomes NP-hard. We characterize this asymmetry in the complexity with a novel property named strong bilevel feasibility. Finally, we describe an algorithm to generate valid inequalities to the NPP based on this property, accommodated with numerical results to demonstrate its effectiveness in solving the NPP with a high number of commodities.
title Asymmetry in the Complexity of the Multi-Commodity Network Pricing Problem
topic Optimization and Control
90C46, 90C25, 90C35
G.1.6; G.2.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.10673