RL-MILP Solver: A Reinforcement Learning Approach for Solving Mixed-Integer Linear Programs with Graph Neural Networks
Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) is an optimization technique widely used in various fields. Existing end-to-end learning methods for MILP generate values for a subset of decision variables and delegate the remaining problem to traditional MILP solvers. However, this approach does not guarantee solution feasibility (i.e., satisfying all constraints) due to inaccurate predictions and primarily focuses on prediction for binary decision variables. When addressing MILP involving non-binary integer variables using machine learning (ML), feasibility issues can become even more pronounced. Since finding an optimal solution requires satisfying all constraints, addressing feasibility is critical. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel reinforcement learning (RL)-based solver that interacts with MILP to incrementally discover better feasible solutions without relying on traditional solvers. We design reward functions tailored for MILP, which enable the RL agent to learn relationships between decision variables and constraints. Furthermore, we leverage a Transformer encoder-based graph neural network (GNN) to effectively model complex relationships among decision variables. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can solve MILP problems and find near-optimal solutions without delegating the remainder to traditional solvers. The proposed method provides a meaningful step forward as an initial study in solving MILP problems entirely with ML in an end-to-end manner.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Tasks
Graph Neural NetworkReinforcement Learning (RL)Methods 이 논문이 사용한 방법론
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Learning to Stop Cut Generation for Efficient Mixed-Integer Linear Programming
Cutting planes (cuts) play an important role in solving mixed-integer linear programs (MILPs), as they significantly tighten the dual bounds and improve the solving performance. A key problem for cuts is when to stop cut…
Decision MakingMulti-task Representation Learning for Mixed Integer Linear Programming
Mixed Integer Linear Programs (MILPs) are highly flexible and powerful tools for modeling and solving complex real-world combinatorial optimization problems. Recently, machine learning (ML)-guided approaches have demonst…
Combinatorial OptimizationMulti-Task LearningRepresentation LearningCollab-Solver: Collaborative Solving Policy Learning for Mixed-Integer Linear Programming
Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) has been a fundamental problem in combinatorial optimization. Conventional MILP solving mainly relies on carefully designed heuristics embedded in the branch-and-bound framework. D…
Machine Learning Augmented Branch and Bound for Mixed Integer Linear Programming
Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) is a pillar of mathematical optimization that offers a powerful modeling language for a wide range of applications. During the past decades, enormous algorithmic progress has been …
DIG-MILP: a Deep Instance Generator for Mixed-Integer Linear Programming with Feasibility Guarantee
Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) stands as a notable NP-hard problem pivotal to numerous crucial industrial applications. The development of effective algorithms, the tuning of solvers, and the training of machine…
Data Augmentation