提出新框架让神经路由求解器高效处理复杂约束。
Towards Efficient Constraint Handling in Neural Solvers for Routing Problems
- 用联合训练引导构建模块生成优质解,便于轻量级优化
- 仅需10步优化即达5000步传统方法效果,提升效率
- 首次实现构建与优化共享表示,适合复杂约束场景
神经求解器在简单路由问题上取得显著进展,尤其在计算效率方面表现优异。然而,面对复杂约束时,现有基于可行性掩码或隐式可行性感知的约束处理方法效率低下或无法适用硬约束。本文提出构造-精炼(Construct-and-Refine, CaR)框架,是首个基于显式学习的可行解精炼机制的通用高效约束处理方案。不同于以往依赖重改进以缩小最优性差距的构造-搜索混合方法,CaR通过联合训练框架指导构建模块生成多样化且高质量的初始解,使其可被轻量级改进过程高效优化(如仅需10步,而此前需5000步)。此外,CaR首次引入构建-优化共享表示,统一编码器结构,促进不同范式间知识共享,尤其适用于更复杂的约束场景。我们在典型硬约束路由问题上评估了该方法,结果表明,相比经典及最新神经求解器,CaR在可行性、解质量与效率方面均表现更优。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Neural solvers have achieved impressive progress in addressing simple routing problems, particularly excelling in computational efficiency. However, their advantages under complex constraints remain nascent, for which current constraint-handling schemes via feasibility masking or implicit feasibility awareness can be inefficient or inapplicable for hard constraints. In this paper, we present Construct-and-Refine (CaR), the first general and efficient constraint-handling framework for neural routing solvers based on explicit learning-based feasibility refinement. Unlike prior construction-search hybrids that target reducing optimality gaps through heavy improvements yet still struggle with hard constraints, CaR achieves efficient constraint handling by designing a joint training framework that guides the construction module to generate diverse and high-quality solutions well-suited for a lightweight improvement process, e.g., 10 steps versus 5k steps in prior work. Moreover, CaR presents the first use of construction-improvement-shared representation, enabling potential knowledge sharing across paradigms by unifying the encoder, especially in more complex constrained scenarios. We evaluate CaR on typical hard routing constraints to showcase its broader applicability. Results demonstrate that CaR achieves superior feasibility, solution quality, and efficiency compared to both classical and neural state-of-the-art solvers.
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