Improving the Computational Efficiency in Symmetrical Numeric Constraint Satisfaction Problems

Models are used in science and engineering for experimentation, analysis, diagnosis or design. In some cases, they can be considered as numeric constraint satisfaction problems (NCSP). Many models are symmetrical NCSP. The consideration of symmetries ensures that NCSP-solver will find solutions if they exist on a smaller search space. Our work proposes a strategy to perform it. We transform the symmetrical NCSP into a newNCSP by means of addition of symmetry-breaking constraints before the search begins. The specification of a library of possible symmetries for numeric constraints allows an easy choice of these new constraints. The summarized results of the studied cases show the suitability of the symmetry-breaking constraints to improve the solving process of certain types of symmetrical NCSP. Their possible speedup facilitates the application of modelling and solving larger and more realistic problems.