Hi every one,
I am actually working on a project and I would like to have your opinion
The aim of this project is to solve a problem using GPGPU programming (so CUDA)
So problem is quite easy, I have to put in a truck a lot of container, with different weight and size. But the Truck is large enough to accept all containers so it is not a bin packing problem. Also, the truck is divided in N area in which you can put exactly one container.
So, each container has an order of “preference place†and I have to optimize this preference. Also you have some other constraint; some container must be neighbor, one container can take one and half place etc…
The problem can be model by a Mixed Integer problem, with an objective function.
Actually, I was thinking to put for each container N binary variables and put 1 at the variable i if the container is in the area I, 0 otherwise.
The problem is that, I will have a spare matrix (density under 5%). So, from what I’ve read so far, it won’t be very useful to use GPGPU
I also think to put for each container a variable which can have the value 1 to N. Then the matrix will be denser.
My major problem is that I don’t know what is the best way to tackle the problem :
Using branch & Band Solver and during the relaxation, use a LP solver programming in GPGPU.
Or use Constraint Solver in GPGPU
Or, use metaheuristic solver in GPGPU.
So, I would like to have your opinion about my problem
Thank’s a lot
This sounds like a fun problem. I don’t know if I have seen any related work on adapting problem-specific optimization
heuristics to GPUs, so you may be in uncharted territory.
If you want to use something off-the-shelf, you’ll want to cast your problem in terms of a well-known algorithm like a neural network, a
support vector machine, or a genetic algorithm. There have been some successful efforts to port these to GPUs and you could probably
find a paper to use as a guide.
Otherwise, feel free to try to adapt an algorithm that you already have. The only insight that I can offer for problems like this is to
try to break the algorithm into enumeration and evaluation stages, where enumeration prunes a large space of possible solutions into many
independent sub-problems, and evaluation determines an efficient solution for each subproblem.
HI,
thank for your answer
I find nothing on internet which can suit to my problem , even if there is some work an genetic algorithm ( the ant colonization).
So yes I think as you, the best way seems to do a massive Band & Bound, with may be an genetic algorithm to find good bound.
But the problem seems that my matrix is sparse. Does there is any solution to create a dense matrix with a sparse matrix, using CUDA?
There are several sparse matrix libraries for CUDA. I don’t know if this would apply directly, but you could try CUSP: Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
Thank you for your help, I will have a look to this libraries