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。每天我们的社会都依靠网络来进行能源，运输和沟通。 网络的设计和操作是削减许多工程学科的主要问题。这一提高了工程（BRITE）重新启动奖的变革性和公平进步的研究思想利用了新的范式来实现网络流量的数学模型，以使（1）开发更快，更可扩展的算法来解决大型，复杂的路由问题，并在运输方面以及（2）在较高的电视网络上设计了一个较高的能力，甚至可以在较高的范围内提供一个较高的水平。 如果成功，该项目将显着提高我们设计和操作关键基础架构网络的物流和通信能力。将招募来自历史上代表性不足的工程群体的本科研究助理，从事旨在向公众展示该项目结果的互补活动，并向可能不知道该领域的潜在学生推广运营工程。 研究助理将与目前与主要研究人员互动的学生和志愿者组成的各种社区进行互动。与标准节点-ARC表示相比，新的范式大大减少了整数编程模型中的变量和限制。反过来，这会导致更快的解决方案算法。该项目的目标是使用范式来开发（1）固有困难的网络优化问题的确切算法，这些算法与现有方法相比，在更少的时间内发现了可证明是最佳解决方案的问题，并且（2）启发式方法很快找到了高质量的解决方案，但不一定是最佳的。 解决方案方法将包括专门为新配方而得出的切割平面，该项目将检验一个假设，即新模型的结构允许专门实施单纯形方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来通过评估来支持的。