Online optimization of large scale systems

by Martin Grötschel

Whether costs are to be reduced, profits to be maximized, or scarce resources to be used wisely, optimization methods are available to guide decision making. In online optimization the main issue is: incomplete data; and the scientific challenge: How well can an online algorithm perform? Can one guarantee solution quality, even without knowing all data in advance? In real-time optimization there is an additional requirement, decisions have to be computed very fast, fast in relation to the time frame of the instance we consider. Online and real-time optimization problems occur in all...