How to solve non-linear integer problems (MINLP/INLP)

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to solve a problem related to a switching network structure in the form of a Benes network.

I've managed to obtain the integer logical funcions describing the output of the circuit as a function of the switching states of the network (described as integer binary values)

My problem is as follows:

I want to minimize the number of active switches in the network, while maintaining a given output. The optimization function is simply the sum of all the control signals of the switches , but the problem is that the constraints of the problem (the outputs of the network) are described by non-linear integer equations.

Using the Optimization Toolbox it seems this is not feasable, given the non linearity of the constraints.

Is there any function or add-on tasked with this kind of optimization and anlysis?

I'm quite new to this type of Matlab functions, so any kind of suggestions can be helpful.

Thank you for the help.

Answer 1

[Matt J]

You will have to use ga() in the Global Optimization Toolbox.

[Lorenzo Tunesi]

Thank you very much. I read the documentation, and even though there are additional constraints not supported in the direct implementation of ga(), I discovered a workaround.