Metamodeling for large-scale optimization tasks based on object networks

Optimization in large-scale networks - such as large logistical networks and electric power grids involving many thousands of variables - is a very challenging task. In this paper, we present the theoretical basis and the related experiments involving the development and use of visualization tools and improvements in existing best practices in managing optimization software, as preparation for the use of “metamodeling” - the insertion of complex neural networks or other universal nonlinear function approximators into key parts of these complicated and expensive computations; this novel approach has been developed by the new Center for Large-Scale Integrated Optimization and Networks (CLION) at University of Memphis, TN.