Branch-and-Bound for Biobjective Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

Abstract

We present a generic branch-and-bound algorithm for finding all the Pareto solutions of a biobjective mixed-integer linear program. The main contributions are new algorithms for obtaining dual bounds at a node, checking node fathoming, presolve, and duality gap measurement. Our branch-and-bound is predominantly a decision space search method because the branching is performed on the decision variables, akin to single objective problems, although we also sometimes split gaps and branch in the objective space. The various algorithms are implemented using a data structure for storing Pareto sets. Computational experiments are carried out on literature instances and on a new set of instances that we generate using a benchmark library (MIPLIB2017) for single objective problems. We also perform comparisons against the triangle splitting method from literature, which is an objective space search algorithm. Summary of Contribution: Biobjective mixed-integer optimization problems have two linear objectives and a mixed-integer feasible region. Such problems have many applications in operations research, because many real-world optimization problems naturally comprise two conflicting objectives to optimize or can be approximated in such a manner and are even harder than single objective mixed-integer programs. Solving them exactly requires the computation of all the nondominated solutions in the objective space, whereas some applications may also require finding at least one solution in the decision space corresponding to each nondominated solution. This paper provides an exact algorithm for solving these problems using the branch-and-bound method, which works predominantly in the decision space. Of the many ingredients of this algorithm, some parts are direct extensions of the single-objective version, but the main parts are newly designed algorithms to handle the distinct challenges of optimizing over two objectives. The goal of this study is to improve solution quality and speed and show that decision-space algorithms perform comparably to, and sometimes better than, algorithms that work mainly in the objective-space.