Journal of the Operational Research Society

, Volume 61, Issue 11, pp 1619–1631 | Cite as

Integrating heuristic information into exact methods: The case of the vertex p-centre problem

Theoretical Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

We solve the vertex p-centre problem optimally using an exact method that considers both upper and lower bounds as part of its search engine. Tight upper bounds are generated quickly via an efficient three-level heuristic, which are then used to derive potential ‘lower bounds’ accordingly. These two pieces of information when used together make our chosen exact method more efficient at obtaining optimal solutions relatively quickly. The proposed implementation produced excellent results when tested on the OR Library data set. This integrated approach can be adopted for those exact methods that consider both upper and lower bounds within their search engine and hence provide a wider spectrum of applicability in other hard combinatorial problems.

Keywords

vertex p-centre location set covering problem (SCP) multi-level heuristic variable neighbourhood search (VNS) exact method 

Notes

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the referees for their constructive comments that improved both the quality and the content of the paper.

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Copyright information

© Operational Research Society 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of KentCanterburyUK
  2. 2.King Saud UniversityRiyadhSaudi Arabia

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