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Main Authors: Wang, Chaoyang, Cheng, Pengzhi, Li, Jingze, Sun, Weiwei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13947
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author Wang, Chaoyang
Cheng, Pengzhi
Li, Jingze
Sun, Weiwei
author_facet Wang, Chaoyang
Cheng, Pengzhi
Li, Jingze
Sun, Weiwei
contents Deep neural networks based on reinforcement learning (RL) for solving combinatorial optimization (CO) problems are developing rapidly and have shown a tendency to approach or even outperform traditional solvers. However, existing methods overlook an important distinction: CO problems differ from other traditional problems in that they focus solely on the optimal solution provided by the model within a specific length of time, rather than considering the overall quality of all solutions generated by the model. In this paper, we propose Leader Reward and apply it during two different training phases of the Policy Optimization with Multiple Optima (POMO) model to enhance the model's ability to generate optimal solutions. This approach is applicable to a variety of CO problems, such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), and the Flexible Flow Shop Problem (FFSP), but also works well with other POMO-based models or inference phase's strategies. We demonstrate that Leader Reward greatly improves the quality of the optimal solutions generated by the model. Specifically, we reduce the POMO's gap to the optimum by more than 100 times on TSP100 with almost no additional computational overhead.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_13947
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publishDate 2024
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spellingShingle Leader Reward for POMO-Based Neural Combinatorial Optimization
Wang, Chaoyang
Cheng, Pengzhi
Li, Jingze
Sun, Weiwei
Machine Learning
Deep neural networks based on reinforcement learning (RL) for solving combinatorial optimization (CO) problems are developing rapidly and have shown a tendency to approach or even outperform traditional solvers. However, existing methods overlook an important distinction: CO problems differ from other traditional problems in that they focus solely on the optimal solution provided by the model within a specific length of time, rather than considering the overall quality of all solutions generated by the model. In this paper, we propose Leader Reward and apply it during two different training phases of the Policy Optimization with Multiple Optima (POMO) model to enhance the model's ability to generate optimal solutions. This approach is applicable to a variety of CO problems, such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), and the Flexible Flow Shop Problem (FFSP), but also works well with other POMO-based models or inference phase's strategies. We demonstrate that Leader Reward greatly improves the quality of the optimal solutions generated by the model. Specifically, we reduce the POMO's gap to the optimum by more than 100 times on TSP100 with almost no additional computational overhead.
title Leader Reward for POMO-Based Neural Combinatorial Optimization
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13947