OptQuest's inner workings

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Ben Wilson asked Feb 9, '17 Jordan Johnson edited Feb 9, '17

OptQuest's inner workings

We received this question and I thought it should be posted publicly so our whole community can benefit from the information.

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We started exploring the use of OptQuest in our business cases, and have found it to be very useful, but to execute more projects we need to know some important parameters used in OptQuest:

Optimization technique
Population size
Selection technique
Cross Over technique (if optimization technique is Genetic Algorithm based)
Mutation technique (if optimization technique is Genetic Algorithm based)

We would also like to know the possibility to change the above parameters through FlexSim, depending on the business case.

Software Version:

FlexSim 17.0.2

optquest optimizer algorithm

Answer 1 · 2017-02-09T21:10:30Z

Jordan Johnson answered Feb 9, '17 Jordan Johnson edited Feb 9, '17

OptQuest uses a proprietary optimization technique. From what I understand, it is a mixture of several evolutionary algorithms, one of which is a genetic algorithm. It can also use techniques like tabu and scatter search, and even neural networks. From the documentation, it sounds like the optimizer can use any or all of these techniques during a single optimization.

Since OptQuest uses many algorithms, and those algorithms are adapted to simulation optimization, OptQuest has gone for a very 'black box' style API. FlexSim's interface doesn't currently allow the user to modify the optimization algorithm parameters.

For the best information, you can look in OptQuest's documentation, or contact OptQuest directly.

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