Parallel consistent labeling algorithms

Mackworth and Freuder have analyzed the time complexity of several constraint satisfaction algorithms.⁽¹⁾ Mohr and Henderson have given new algorithms, AC-4 and PC-3, for arc and path consistency, respectively, and have shown that the arc consistency algorithm is optimal in time complexity and of the same order space complexity as the earlier algorithms.⁽²⁾ In this paper, we give parallel algorithms for solving node and arc consistency. We show that any parallel algorithm for enforcing are consistency in the worst case must have O(na) sequential steps, wheren is number of nodes, anda is the number of labels per node. We give several parallel algorithms to do arc consistency. It is also shown that they all have optimal time complexity. The results of running the parallel algorithms on a BBN Butterfly multiprocessor are also presented.This work was partially supported by NSF Grants MCS-8221750, DCR-8506393, and DMC-8502115.     

The dilemma between arc and bounds consistency

Consistency enforcement is used to prune the search tree of a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). Arc consistency (AC) is a well-studied consistency level, with many implementations. Bounds consistency (BC), a looser consistency level, is known to have equal time complexity to AC. To solve a CSP, we have to implement an algorithm of our own or employ an existing solver. In any case, at some point, we have to decide between enforcing either AC or BC. As the choice between AC or BC is more or less predefined and currently made without considering the individualities of each CSP, this study attempts to make this decision deterministic and efficient, without the need of trial and error. We find that BC fits better while solving a CSP with its maximum domains' size being greater than its constrained variables number. We study the behavior of maintaining arc or bounds consistency during search, and we show how the overall search methods complexity is affected by the employed consistency level.     

一种基于预处理技术的约束满足问题求解算法

相容性技术作为约束满足问题的一种有效求解技术,不论是在求解前的预处理过程中,还是在搜索过程中,都扮演着极为重要的角色.文中对预处理阶段的相容性技术进行改进和信息抽取,提出两种应用于搜索过程中的新算法Pre-AC和Pre-AC*,并嵌入到BT框架中,形成新的搜索算法BT MPAC和BT MPAC*,给出了其正确性证明,通过复杂性分析得到Pre-AC和Pre-AC*的时间复杂度分别是O(nd)和O(ed2),明显低于目前最流行的弧相容技术的时间复杂度O(ed3).实验测试结果表明:对于不同类别的用例,新算法的执行效率是弧相容维护算法的2~50倍.     

Comments on Samal and Henderson: “Parallel consistent labeling algorithms”

Samal and Henderson claim that any parallel algorithm for enforcing arc consistency in the worst case must have (na) sequential steps, wheren is the number of nodes, anda is the number of labels per node. We argue that Samal and Henderson's argument makes assumptions about how processors are used and give a counterexample that enforces arc consistency in a constant number of steps usingO(n[su2a²2^na) processors. It is possible that the lower bound holds for a polynomial number of processors; if such a lower bound were to be proven it would answer an important open question in theoretical computer science concerning the relation between the complexity classesP andNC. The strongest existing lower bound for the arc consistency problem states that it cannot be solved in polynomial log time unlessP=NC.     

最大受限路径相容约束传播算法的研究进展

约束传播技术对于约束满足问题的求解性能至关重要。约束传播技术在一个预处理过程中能彻底地移除一些局部不相容值,或者在搜索期间高效地剪枝搜索树。最大受限路径相容算法(max Restricted Path Consistency,maxRPC)是最近提出的一种强相容性约束传播算法,它能够删除更多不相容值,在解决复杂问题中取得了很好的效果。文中对弧相容算法AC和最大受限路径相容算法maxRPC的相关算法AC3,AC3rm,maxRPC1,maxRPC2,maxRPCrm,maxRPC3等及其相关变体分别进行介绍和比较。在Mistral求解器上的实验测试结果验证了各种算法的性能。     

改进求解约束满足问题粗粒度弧相容算法

约束满足问题在人工智能领域有着广泛的应用.研究了约束满足问题的粗粒度维持弧相容求解算法,发现在求解过程中,对于指向已赋值变量的弧存在无效的修正检查,证明了这类修正检查是冗余的.提出一种方法避免这类冗余的修正检查,给出改进后的粗粒度弧相容算法的基本框架AC3_frame_ARR,该改进框架可用于改进所有粗粒度弧相容算法.实验结果表明,经过AC3_frame_ARR改进后的算法最多可以节省80%的修正检查次数和40%的求解耗时.     

多值传播的相容性技术

相容性技术是求解约束满足问题的重要手段. 本文针对目前已有相容性算法的单值传播特点, 提出多值传播理论, 证明出k次单值传播与一次多值传播的等价性, 在此基础上, 给出多值传播的弧相容定理. 将该定理与目前流行的Singleton弧相容技术结合, 得到多值传播算法SAC-MP, 并证明其完备性和正确性. 通过对随机问题、N皇后、鸽巢问题及基准用例的测试表明, 算法SAC-MP的执行效率是已有算法SAC-SDS和SAC-3的2～3倍.     

Hierarchical arc consistency: exploiting structured domains in constraint satisfaction problems

Constraint satisfaction problems can be solved by network consistency algorithms that eliminate local inconsistencies before constructing global solutions. We describe a new algorithm that is useful when the variable domains can be structured hierarchically into recursive subsets with common properties and common relationships to subsets of the domain values for related variables. The algorithm, HAC, uses a technique known as hierarchical arc consistency. Its performance is analyzed theoretically and the conditions under which it is an improvement are outlined. The use of HAC in a program for understanding sketch maps, Mapsee3, is briefly discussed and experimental results consistent with the theory are reported.     

基于动态度的回溯算法求解大值域约束满足问题

针对一个具有精确可满足性相变现象的大值域随机约束满足问题,提出了两种启发式动态回溯算法,即基于动态度的ddeg-MAC（dynamic degree-maintaining arc consistency）回溯算法和基于值域与动态度比值的dom/ddeg-MAC（dom/dynamic degree-maintaining arc consistency）回溯算法。这两种算法分别基于ddeg和dom/ddeg挑选变量,利用维持弧相容（MAC）技术为挑选的变量进行赋值。当赋值无法进行时,再执行动态回溯修正变量的赋值。数值实验结果表明：在控制参数非常接近理论相变点时,算法仍然能够有效地找到问题的解。与经典回溯算法相比,这两种启发式动态回溯算法具有显著的优越性。     

Parallel path consistency

Filtering algorithms are well accepted as a means of speeding up the solution of the consistent labeling problem (CLP). Despite the fact that path consistency does a better job of filtering than arc consistency, AC is still the preferred technique because it has a much lower time complexity. We are implementing parallel path consistency algorithms on multiprocessors and comparing their performance to the best sequential and parallel arc consistency algorithms.^(1,2) (See also work by Kerethoet al. ⁽³⁾ and Kasif⁽⁴⁾) Preliminary work has shown linear performance increases for parallelized path consistency and also shown that in many cases performance is significantly better than the theoretical worst case. These two results lead us to believe that parallel path consistency may be a superior filtering technique. Finally, we have implemented path consistency as an outer product computation and have obtained good results (e.g., linear speedup on a 64K-node Connection Machine 2).     

一种基于时间戳的简单表缩减算法

表约束是一种外延的知识表示方法,每个约束在对应的变量集上列举出所有支持或禁止的元组.广义弧相容（generalized arc consistency,简称GAC）是求解约束满足问题应用最广泛的相容性.Simple Tabular Reduction（STR）是一类高效的维持GAC的算法.在回溯搜索中,STR动态地删除无效元组,降低了查找支持的开销,并拥有单位时间的回溯代价,在高元表约束上获得了广泛运用,并有大量基于STR的改进算法被提出,其中,元组集的压缩表示是目前研究较多的方法.同样基于动态维持元组集有效部分的思想,为STR提出一种检测并删除无效元组和为变量更新支持的算法,作用于原始表约束并拥有单位时间的回溯代价.实验结果表明,该算法在表约束上维持GAC的效率普遍高于现有的非基于压缩表示的STR算法,并且在一些实例上的效率高于最新的基于元组集压缩表示的STR算法.     

Optimal switch location in mobile communication networks using hybrid genetic algorithms

The optimal positioning of switches in a mobile communication network is an important task, which can save costs and improve the performance of the network. In this paper we propose a model for establishing which are the best nodes of the network for allocating the available switches, and several hybrid genetic algorithms to solve the problem. The proposed model is based on the so-called capacitated p-median problem, which have been previously tackled in the literature. This problem can be split in two subproblems: the selection of the best set of switches, and a terminal assignment problem to evaluate each selection of switches. The hybrid genetic algorithms for solving the problem are formed by a conventional genetic algorithm, with a restricted search, and several local search heuristics. In this work we also develop novel heuristics for solving the terminal assignment problem in a fast and accurate way. Finally, we show that our novel approaches, hybridized with the genetic algorithm, outperform existing algorithms in the literature for the p-median problem.     

On Parallel Partial Solutions and Approximation Schemes for Local Consistency in Networks of Constraints

A constraint network is arc consistent if any value of any of its variables is compatible with at least one value of any other variable. The Arc Consistency Problem (ACP) consists in filtering out values of the variables of a given network to obtain one that is arc consistent, without eliminating any solution. ACP is known to be inherently sequential, or P-complete, so in this paper we examine some weaker versions of it and their parallel complexity. We propose several natural approximation schemes for ACP and show that they are also P-complete. In an attempt to overcome these negative results, we turn our attention to the problem of filtering out values from the variables so that each value in the resulting network is compatible with at least one value of not necessarily all, but a constant fraction of the other variables. We call such a network partially arc consistent. We give a parallel algorithm that, for any constraint network, outputs a partially arc consistent subnetwork of it in sublinear ( O( logn)) parallel time using O(n²) processors. This is the first (to our knowledge) sublinear-time parallel algorithm with polynomially many processors that guarantees that in the resulting network every value is compatible with at least one value in at least a constant fraction of the remaining variables. Finally, we generalize the notion of partiality to the k-consistency problem.     

Experimental Analysis of Numeric and Symbolic Constraint Satisfaction Techniques for Temporal Reasoning

Many temporal applications like planning and scheduling can be viewed as special cases of the numeric and symbolic temporal constraint satisfaction problem. Thus we have developed a temporal model, TemPro, based on the interval Algebra, to express such applications in term of qualitative and quantitative temporal constraints. TemPro extends the interval algebra relations of Allen to handle numeric information. To solve a constraint satisfaction problem, different approaches have been developed. These approaches generally use constraint propagation to simplify the original problem and backtracking to directly search for possible solutions. The constraint propagation can also be used during the backtracking to improve the performance of the search. The objective of this paper is to assess different policies for finding if a TemPro network is consistent. The main question we want to answer here is how much constraint propagation is useful for finding a single solution for a TemPro constraint graph. For this purpose, we have experimented by randomly generating large consistent networks for which either arc and/or path consistency algorithms (AC-3, AC-7 and PC-2) were applied. The main result of this study is an optimal policy combining these algorithms either at the symbolic (Allen relation propagation) or at the numerical level.     

Going weighted: Parameterized algorithms for cluster editing

The goal of the Cluster Editing problem is to make the fewest changes to the edge set of an input graph such that the resulting graph is a disjoint union of cliques. This problem is NP-complete but recently, several parameterized algorithms have been proposed. In this paper, we present a number of surprisingly simple search tree algorithms for Weighted Cluster Editing assuming that edge insertion and deletion costs are positive integers. We show that the smallest search tree has size O(1.82^k) for edit cost k, resulting in the currently fastest parameterized algorithm, both for this problem and its unweighted counterpart. We have implemented and compared our algorithms, and achieved promising results.¹     

优化简单表缩减算法求解因子分解编码实例

表约束在约束程序（constraint programming,简称CP）中被广泛研究.目前,求解表约束问题效率最高的算法是CT （compact-table）和STRbit （simple tabular reduction bit）.它们在搜索过程中维持广义弧相容（generalized arc consistency,简称GAC）.完全成对相容（full pairwise consistency,简称fPWC）是一种强于GAC的相容性关系,目前,实现fPWC效率最高的算法是PW-CT,但是它无法直接在通用的求解器上实现.因子分解编码（factor-decomposition encoding,简称FDE）是实现fPWC的一种编码方式,通常和简单表缩减（STR）算法一起来使用.当前效率最高的STR算法使用了bitset的数据结构,用这些算法来求解FDE实例可能会造成内存溢出.提出了STRFDE算法——一种使用bitset结构来求解FDE实例的方法.它结合了CT和STRbit的优势,在保证求解效率的同时,使占用的内存尽可能小.实验结果表明,在许多存在非平凡相交的实例上,该算法是有竞争力的.     

一种新的基于完全独立相容性的预处理技术

研究了求解约束满足问题(Constraint satisfaction problem, CSP)中的预处理技术. 首先提出了子论域上的完全独立相容性(Entirety singleton consistency, ESC)概念和相应算法, 分析并证明了算法的复杂性和正确性, 而后对其两条重要性质进行了详细证明. 基于此概念和性质, 提出了一种基于完全独立相容性的预处理算法: SAC-ESC算法, 并给出了正确性证明. 最后, 本文采用分治思想, 根据不同问题的论域自适应地合理划分其子论域. 实验结果表明, 对于随机问题、鸽巢问题、N皇后问题和基准用例, 算法SAC-ESC的执行效率大约是目前流行算法SAC-SDS和SAC-3的3~20倍.     

Theoretical analysis of singleton arc consistency and its extensions

Singleton arc consistency (SAC) is a consistency property that is simple to specify and is stronger than arc consistency. Algorithms have already been proposed to enforce SAC, but they have a high time complexity. In this paper, we give a lower bound to the worst-case time complexity of enforcing SAC on binary constraints. We discuss two interesting features of SAC. The first feature leads us to propose an algorithm for SAC that has optimal time complexity when restricted to binary constraints. The second feature leads us to extend SAC to a stronger level of local consistency that we call Bidirectional SAC (BiSAC). We also show the relationship between SAC and the propagation of disjunctive constraints.     

一种高效的FDE并行传播算法

约束规划(constraint programming, CP)是表示和求解组合问题的经典范式之一.扩展约束(extensional constraint)或称表约束(table constraint)是约束规划中最为常见的约束类型.绝大多数约束规划问题都可以用表约束表达.在问题求解时,相容性算法用于缩减搜索空间.目前,最为高效的表约束相容性算法是简单表约缩减(simple table reduction, STR)算法簇,如Compact-Table (CT)和STRbit算法.它们在搜索过程中维持广义弧相容(generalized arc consistency, GAC).此外,完全成对相容性(full pairwise consistency, fPWC)是一种比GAC剪枝能力更强的相容性.最为高效的维持fPWC算法是PW-CT算法.多年来,人们提出了多种表约束相容性算法来提高剪枝能力和执行效率.因子分解编码(factor-decomposition encoding, FDE)通过对平凡问题重新编码.它一定程度地扩大了问题模型,使在新的问题上维持相对较弱的GAC等价于在原问题...     

Consistency techniques for continuous constraints

We consider constraint satisfaction problems with variables in continuous, numerical domains. Contrary to most existing techniques, which focus on computing one single optimal solution, we address the problem of computing a compact representation of the space of all solutions admitted by the constraints. In particular, we show how globally consistent (also called decomposable) labelings of a constraint satisfaction problem can be computed.Our approach is based on approximating regions of feasible solutions by 2 ^k -trees, a representation commonly used in computer vision and image processing. We give simple and stable algorithms for computing labelings with arbitrary degrees of consistency. The algorithms can process constraints and solution spaces of arbitrary complexity, but with a fixed maximal resolution.Previous work has shown that when constraints are convex and binary, path-consistency is sufficient to ensure global consistency. We show that for continuous domains, this result can be generalized to ternary and in fact arbitrary n-ary constraints using the concept of (3,2)-relational consistency. This leads to polynomial-time algorithms for computing globally consistent labelings for a large class of constraint satisfaction problems with continuous variables.