SymILO: A Symmetry-Aware Learning Framework for Integer Linear Optimization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Qian, Zhang, Tianjian, Yang, Linxin, Han, Qingyu, Wang, Akang, Sun, Ruoyu, Luo, Xiaodong, Chang, Tsung-Hui
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Chen, Qian
Zhang, Tianjian
Yang, Linxin
Han, Qingyu
Wang, Akang
Sun, Ruoyu
Luo, Xiaodong
Chang, Tsung-Hui
author_facet Chen, Qian
Zhang, Tianjian
Yang, Linxin
Han, Qingyu
Wang, Akang
Sun, Ruoyu
Luo, Xiaodong
Chang, Tsung-Hui
contents Integer linear programs (ILPs) are commonly employed to model diverse practical problems such as scheduling and planning. Recently, machine learning techniques have been utilized to solve ILPs. A straightforward idea is to train a model via supervised learning, with an ILP as the input and an optimal solution as the label. An ILP is symmetric if its variables can be permuted without changing the problem structure, resulting in numerous equivalent and optimal solutions. Randomly selecting an optimal solution as the label can introduce variability in the training data, which may hinder the model from learning stable patterns. In this work, we incorporate the intrinsic symmetry of ILPs and propose a novel training framework called SymILO. Specifically, we modify the learning task by introducing solution permutation along with neural network weights as learnable parameters and then design an alternating algorithm to jointly optimize the loss function. We conduct extensive experiments on ILPs involving different symmetries and the computational results demonstrate that our symmetry-aware approach significantly outperforms three existing methods -- achieving $50.3\%$, $66.5\%$, and $45.4\%$ average improvements, respectively.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_19678
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SymILO: A Symmetry-Aware Learning Framework for Integer Linear Optimization
Chen, Qian
Zhang, Tianjian
Yang, Linxin
Han, Qingyu
Wang, Akang
Sun, Ruoyu
Luo, Xiaodong
Chang, Tsung-Hui
Optimization and Control
Integer linear programs (ILPs) are commonly employed to model diverse practical problems such as scheduling and planning. Recently, machine learning techniques have been utilized to solve ILPs. A straightforward idea is to train a model via supervised learning, with an ILP as the input and an optimal solution as the label. An ILP is symmetric if its variables can be permuted without changing the problem structure, resulting in numerous equivalent and optimal solutions. Randomly selecting an optimal solution as the label can introduce variability in the training data, which may hinder the model from learning stable patterns. In this work, we incorporate the intrinsic symmetry of ILPs and propose a novel training framework called SymILO. Specifically, we modify the learning task by introducing solution permutation along with neural network weights as learnable parameters and then design an alternating algorithm to jointly optimize the loss function. We conduct extensive experiments on ILPs involving different symmetries and the computational results demonstrate that our symmetry-aware approach significantly outperforms three existing methods -- achieving $50.3\%$, $66.5\%$, and $45.4\%$ average improvements, respectively.
title SymILO: A Symmetry-Aware Learning Framework for Integer Linear Optimization
topic Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.19678