BRITE Relaunch: Compact Network Flows for Critical Infrastructure Engineering

BRITE 重新启动：关键基础设施工程的紧凑网络流程

• 批准号: 2227548
• 负责人: Eli Olinick
• 金额: $ 57.68万
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227548&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRITE; Relaunch; Compact; Network; Flows

Networks are ubiquitous. Every day our society relies on networks for energy, transportation, and communication. The design and operation of networks is a major concern that cuts across many engineering disciplines. This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Relaunch award leverages a new paradigm for the mathematical modeling of network flow to enable (1) the development of faster and more scalable algorithms for solving large, complex routing problems in transportation and (2) the design of resilient telecommunication networks that have the ability to continue to provide a high level of service even when critical components are damaged. If successful, this project will significantly improve our ability to design and operate critical infrastructure networks for logistics and communications. Undergraduate research assistants from historically underrepresented groups in engineering will be recruited to work on a complementary activity designed to demonstrate outcomes of the project to the general public and to promote Operations Engineering to prospective students who might otherwise not be aware of the field. The research assistants will interact with a diverse community of students and volunteers who are currently engaged with the principal investigator in a similar activity.The new paradigm significantly reduces the number of variables and constraints in integer programming models for network optimization problems compared to the standard node-arc representation. This in turn can lead to faster solution algorithms. The goals of the project are to use the paradigm to develop (1) exact algorithms for inherently difficult network optimization problems that find provably optimal solutions in less time than existing methods, and (2) heuristics that quickly find solutions that are high-quality, but not necessarily optimal. Solution methodology will include cutting planes derived specifically for the new formulations and the project will test a hypothesis that the structure of the new model allows for a specialized implementation of the Simplex Method.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

网络无处不在。我们的社会每天都依赖能源、交通和通信网络。 网络的设计和运行是跨越许多工程学科的主要问题。这项“促进工程变革和公平进步的研究理念”(BRITE) 重新启动奖利用了网络流数学建模的新范式，以实现 (1) 开发更快、更具可扩展性的算法，以解决交通和运输领域中大型、复杂的路由问题。 (2) 弹性电信网络的设计，即使在关键组件损坏时也能够继续提供高水平的服务。 如果成功，该项目将显着提高我们设计和运营物流和通信关键基础设施网络的能力。来自工程领域历史上代表性不足的群体的本科生研究助理将被招募来从事一项补充活动，旨在向公众展示项目的成果，并向那些可能不了解该领域的未来学生推广运维工程。 研究助理将与目前与首席研究员从事类似活动的多元化学生和志愿者社区进行互动。与标准节点相比，新范式显着减少了网络优化问题整数规划模型中的变量和约束数量- 弧表示。这反过来又可以带来更快的求解算法。该项目的目标是使用该范式开发（1）针对本质上困难的网络优化问题的精确算法，与现有方法相比，在更短的时间内找到可证明的最佳解决方案，以及（2）快速找到高质量解决方案的启发式方法，但不一定是最优的。 解决方案方法将包括专门针对新配方导出的切割平面，并且该项目将测试新模型的结构允许专门实施单纯形法的假设。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。