Combinatorial problem solving using randomized dynamic tunneling on a production system

Levy and Montalvo (1985), Yao (1989), and Shima (1993) individually proposed tunneling algorithms. The tunneling algorithms employ analogy to the tunnel effect in physics, and are used to optimize continuous systems. The present paper proposes a method of solving combinatorial problems using a type of randomized dynamic tunneling technique. This method is based on a computational model called CCM*. CCM* is an extended version of the Chemical Casting Model (CCM). CCM was proposed by the author toward developing a method of solving open and incompletely-specified problems that may change while being solved, using self-organizing computation. The 0-1 integer programming problem is solved using CCM* with a very simple rule and an evaluation function. CCM* allows one to escape from local maxima by composing the rule dynamically and randomly. This cannot be done by using the original production rule. The author's experiments show that approximate solutions can be found more rapidly by CCM* than by using a branch-and-bound method in the case of 0-1 integer programming